Gundam Seed Revenge
by Duel Otaku
Summary: A fragile peace is shattered by an attack on Onogoro. With the Alliance taking the blame, the flames of war threaten the new peace, with Orb being the aggressor once again. New Gundams and their pilots are called upon to serve, and discover the truth...
1. Phase 1: Nightmare Unleashed

Cosmic Era 75; the Second Bloody Valentine war drew to a close two years ago

* * *

**Cosmic Era ****76; the Second Bloody Valentine war drew to a close two years ago. Following the crippling defeat in the war, the Earth Alliance has begun a rebuild process, inviting all its former agents to help create a new Earth Alliance. Murrue Ramius and the Archangel crew have left ORB and returned home to the Earth Alliance's new Victoria Base in Australia…**

"Recapping the breaking news in the world this week; Ronald Crown was elected President of the post war Earth Alliance Government; he replaces Henry Moore, the former President who resigned after news came to light that he was involved in Blue Cosmos. In other news, OMNI's Lunar Base Construction Yard has been the target of terrorist action; over 1000 workers have died in the attack. Evidence left at the scene has indicated connections to the ORB union. This looks set to increase pre existing tension between the Island Nation and the crippled power, war seems almost inevitable." The news broadcast was transmitted across the globe and into the colonies. The broadcast came into the office of a now seasoned First Lieutenant; she sat behind her desk looking over personnel dossiers.

"Lieutenant" the intercom system went off with the voice of a lower ranked officer.

"Yes?" the young officer leaned forward and replied.

"Admiral Mc Donald wants to know if you have finished selecting your squadron"

"I have looked through all the dossiers…almost. I still stand with my original selection" the Lt sighed to herself and continued to flip through the data on her terminal.

"Very well, thank you ma'am" the lower ranked officer's voice vanished from the intercom. The Lt. went back to scanning data; she opened up the key page on her terminal, information on OMNI's newest G Project. 5 new Gundams assigned to her squad would be assigned to a new OMNI battle ship. This Lt. was looking forward to it.

"Seiei" there was a knock on her open door; the Lt. looked up and brushed her fiery red hair aside.

"Oh Li come in" smiled Seiei as she waved her Chinese friend into the room.

"How are you liking your office?" asked Li as she walked over to a small chair and sat down with a smile.

"It's nice, not that big, but yeah, it's nice" giggled Seiei. "How're you doing with training for Titan?" asked Seiei as she glanced back at the Terminal.

"Fine, I've clocked over 100 hours in the simulator now" laughed Li.

"Now that's dedication! I bet you know Titan's systems inside and out" laughed Seiei.

"As well as I can on such short notice" Li smiled and undid her hair tie and let her hair fall down.

* * *

**-5:00am Feb 3rd C.E.****76-**  
**Pasific Ocean**

"Distance 10,000 and closing" a man's voice came over the com link of 2 other mobile suit cockpits as the units skimmed across the water. The listeners wore black helmets with two white fangs coming down the side. The units sent up a large amount of sea spray as they skimmed the waters surface…none of them cared, their objective was nearly within range…just a few more moments.

"Distance 5,000" the computer took over as the units closed in on their targets, a small Island in the middle of the pacific.

"Distance 4,500…slowing to attack speed" echoed another pilot's system.

"Okay…Wedge Biggs…fire your missiles" ordered a strong male voice.

"Understood" replied the other two men, none of them were younger then 20, none older than 30. All three pilots gripped their controls and clicked in the fire controls on their control sticks. Each unit fired 6 small missiles from each wing mounted missile pod on their JET pack. The 36 small missiles fanned out and streaked across the water, shattering the image of the moon on the waters surface.

"Impact in 5-4-3-2-1-Impact" as the man reached the last word of his countdown the horizon erupted in flames.

"2,500…accelerate to attack speed…we will take out Onogoro's air hangers first, the Mobile Suits will come from there…Wedge, you take care of the East Side, Biggs your cover the West Side" ordered the last man.

"Understood Luke" replied the two men as their units accelerated and broke formation.

The two front units broke off, one eastward and the other westward. The tips of their wings dipped into the water to aid in their sharp turns. The last unit belonging to Luke banked upward and left a funnel of smoke as it hit its afterburner to aid in the climb. As it reached 20,000 ft above the Island it began its decent. The Astray units of Onogoro began their counter defence, the laser rifles of the first War Veterans fired over and over at the descending unit. Luke grabbed his beam rifle and fired down on the Astray units; each shot either disabled an Astray or destroyed it. As Luke reached the ground he levelled his unit out but kept his course steady, only activating the boosters at the last moment. Luke sent up a field of dust where he was able to spin around slowly and fire at the surrounding hangers and units.

* * *

**-3:55am Feb 3rd C.E.76-  
ORB National Defence Head Quarters**

Panic spread through out the National Defence Head Quarters. Only seconds into the attack the reports started coming in. Kisaka tried to re-establish some order to the chaotic base.

"Get the Murusame squads Airborne. Tell E.Y.E.S. to try and find out where the units are attacking from…see if it can see any bases or carriers in the area" ordered Kisaka.

"Colonel, We have a report from the Ashta unit...they said the attacking units are Alliance GAT 04 Windams…" explained a purple haired officer.

"DAMN! I knew the Alliance couldn't be trusted, tell the guard at the Parliament house to be on their mark…get Cagalli-Sama and the other Emirs to the Shelters…And get me the ZAFT Embassy!" ordered Kisaka as he looked around the room yelling commands. "Damn it…why did they have to leave now" a bead of sweat ran down the Native Americans forehead as he remembered the situation regarding the Archangel. The Archangel had returned to the Alliance after an envoy from Glasgow had come requesting their aid in establishing the Alliance. After much debate Murrue and Mwu agreed that they should go, they left all the ORB units and headed to Glasgow with the Windam units that had sided with ORB.

"Colonel Kisaka" Colonel Soga marched into the room and over to the large general.

"Colonel, good to see you" Kisaka and Soga saluted one another before the building shook under the force of an explosion.

"I've been briefed on the situation…the Murusame wing on the Ikazuchi is ready to go…I will stay here, you sortie with them" explained Soga as he walked over to the map of Onogoro "Show me the hits and downed units. See if we cane get a grasp of their strategy" explained Soga.

"Understood replied the sensor officers. One by one the read outs appeared on the map.

"Hmmm…Kisaka…they might hit the Morganrate facility…can you get there?" asked Soga as he looked over the map.

"Roger that" nodded Kisaka as he jogged out the door and down the hall to the landing bay where the yellow Murusame he had been given after Andy returned to space was stationed.

* * *

**-4:10am Feb 3rd C.E.76-**  
**Athha Residence**

Cagalli and Athrun ran down the long corridor of Cagalli's large estate.

"I'll get into Justice ASAP and try to take the attacking units out, if not I'll try to take some of the heat off of the defence force" explained Athrun who was in his ORB flight suit.

"Great idea, I'll head over to the NDHQ to see what's going on" Cagalli and Athrun stopped running in front of the service elevator to the MS dock underneath the estate.

"Get me all the intel you can" smiled Athrun.

"Good luck" Cagalli hugged him close. "Stay safe"

"You too" Athrun broke away from her and entered the elevator with a smile.

* * *

**-4:20am Feb 3rd C.E.76--  
Jiyuu Straight between Onogoro and ORB mainland**

"NOT BAD!" yelled Wedge, the youngest of the three attacking pilots. Wedge fired into a Murusame's shield and forced it to spin around he got two good shots in its centre in that time. Smoke around Wedge's Windam was thick, buildings burned constantly. The sirens in his unit's cockpit went off as 6 laser blasts came out of the smoke in a triangle fashion. "Damn" Wedge either evaded them or blocked them with his shield. As he regained his balance he aimed his beam rifle into the wreckage and fired two shots. Each shot was blocked by a Maroon and pink streak that shot from the smoke. The streak slashed his beam rifle in too two pieces and left Wedge dazzled. "What the hell?" he spun around to see what it was…The unit was none other than "Infinite Justice…no way" Athrun came back down with his beam sabres ready to cut Wedges units head off. As Athrun moved to disable Wedge's unit, the black Windam rolled aside and evaded the slash effortlessly.

"What?" Athrun was shocked; no one but Shinn, Kira and maybe Yzak could evade his attack…who was this guy or girl. Athrun blinked and noticed the Windam's shield was pointed at his cockpit; he was going to fire the missiles at point blank range. "CRAP!" Athrun pulled back on his controls but it was too late. The two missiles flew from the shield and into Athrun's unit. The only thing that saved him was the Phase Shift Armour.

Justice spiralled out of control, Athrun fired his grappling hook into the ground and retracted it a few metres to steady himself.

"How could he evade that? He's defiantly a pro" thought Athrun as he looked around for the Windam. The sensors inside Justice went off and Wedge closed in on Athrun. "Damn!" Athrun threw his boomerang at Wedge who simply evaded it and kicked the spinning blade into the ground. "How can he get so much from a Windam?" muttered Athrun as Wedge fired his Vulcan cannons at Justice. Athrun held up his shield, even though the shells did nothing to his armour. "THAT'S IT!" yelled Athrun as he remembered a big flaw in the Windams design…no Phase Shift. Athrun brought Justice square onto Wedge and fired his Vulcan cannons that were positioned all over Justice.

"Hmph" Wedge blocked the attacks with his shield and then threw it into the ground. "What's he up to?" asked Athrun as his eyes followed the shield and not the unit.

"Got ya" Wedge drew his Armour Penetrator in his left hand, and his beam sabre in the other. "See if you can beat this!" yelled Wedge as he charged at Athrun with full engine power.

"Damn!" Athrun blocked Wedge's beam sabre and pulled his own beam sabre back to strike the Windam. The pink sword slashed horizontally but missed Wedge's Windam because he had drawn back as Athrun slashed. Once Athrun's attack was over, wedge went full bore "The only part of your unit with out Phase Shift is the EYES!" yelled Wedge as he stabbed the Armour Penetrator into Infinite Justice's eyes. The explosion tore apart Justice's head and severely damaged the chest section of Justice, the unit was sent tumbling back into the ground. Athrun suffered a beating as he was thrown around the cockpit like a rag doll. By the time he regained enough of his senses he hit the thermal vision switch. This mode called on Justice's Sub Light Flyer to act as his eyes. The unit clipped out 90 degrees to justice and a small camera fed Athrun an image of what he was fighting, the image was distorted and hazy because of the damage to Justice's circuits. Athrun could see the enemy Windam coming in for the kill on his screens. "SHIT!" yelled Athrun as he forced his shield close to his chest.

Two thin Positron beams cut through the gap between Wedge and Athrun. Wedge backed off after 3 small green lasers came his way. A golden streak came across Athrun's screen while he was downed.

"What was that?" asked Athrun as he looked up…he saw the ORB-01 Akatsuki flying in and out of beam Vulcan fire from Wedge's Windam. "Cagalli, be careful, he's a real pro" explained Athrun

"I noticed. Get on your feet" laughed Cagalli as Wedge came in for a slash at her unit. "Shit!" Cagalli narrowly evaded the attack. "TRY THESE APPLES!" Smirked Cagalli as she fired her two Positron blasters, the thin red and blue beams shot off one of the legs of Wedge's unit. "This is the Representative of the ORB union, Cagalli Yula Athha to attacking units, you are invading ORB air space and committing unwarranted acts of violence…no terrorism, we demand that you stop and surrender immediately or we will stop you with lethal force!" ordered Cagalli over every channel.

"Damn her!" Yelled Wedge as he flew away, gaining up speed for a high speed attack.

"Wedge, lets go" Luke's face appeared on the com screen of Wedge's unit.

"What? I'm going to take it out!" yelled Wedge as he drew his other beam sabre.

"Listen, we are retreating we have completed out mission objectives" explained Luke as his unit along with Biggs could be seen leaving a beat up Onogoro.

"Damn! I'll get it next time!" sneered Wedge and he dropped two small canisters from his units wings, the canisters exploded and light blinded Cagalli and Athrun's units while Wedge made his escape. Athrun looked on at the retreating units once his unit's vision returned to him.

"Murusame squads, follow them, see if you can locate their base!" ordered Cagalli as Akatsuki touched down next to Justice. "Athrun are you okay?" asked Cagalli as she opened her unit's cockpit.

"Cagalli-Sama" Two Murusame landed next to Akatsuki, one was Kisaka's the other belonged to an ORB pilot.

"What is it?" asked Cagalli as she opened her visor as wiped away the tears that were forming in her eyes.

"We have the report from E.Y.E.S. ready for you…they were quick at tracking them" explained Kisaka as his unit transformed into its MA form and flew towards the NDHQ

"Understood" Cagalli took off and followed Kisaka there with the other Murusame guarding her rear.

* * *

**-9am Feb 10th CE76-  
Earth Alliance HQ-Glasgow**

The news of the events that had transpired in ORB spread across the world like wild fire. The public of ORB was outraged when the Parliament was forced to release documents stating that GAT 04 Windams were the units that took part in the attack. The European Union was now the leader of the Alliance was forced into a corner like a caged animal.

"Admiral?" Murrue walked into the office of OMNI Admiral McDonald, a veteran of both wars and capable commander.

"Ah Captain, good to see you made it here from Victoria ok" smiled McDonald as he stood up and walked over to salute Murrue. "I hear the oceans are ripe with Pirates now that we can't keep the peace to well" McDonald returned to his window and looked out across Glasgow.

"The Pirates may be getting bolder, but the Archangel is still an OMNI Heavy Cruiser and one hell of a fighter" Murrue smiled as she lowered her salute and took off her hat.

"Captain, this Windam attack has left OMNI and the Earth Alliance in bad light with the press. We are almost on the brink of war, if something isn't done we will be thrust back into a war with the ORB union" explained McDonald. "Please sit"

"Thank you Sir" Murrue sat down and folded her hands into her lap "The ORB Union does have a substantial amount of advanced technology, a war would be long and costly"

"We couldn't afford any war right now. We have less than a thousand Mobile Suits in our Space and Terrestrial Forces put together" sighed McDonald. "We would be guaranteed to loose any confrontation in space, our Space Fleet is in ruins, the only surviving ships we have were the ones sent to guard the outer colonies. No more than 64 Ships survived the last war"

"I had no idea the losses were so bad sir" Murrue looked very concerned. "How is the replacement coming?" she asked carefully.

"The Buckingham Ship Yards is working round the clock to finish construction on the Girty Lue line. Since the new charter for OMNI came into effect we have built 20 new Girty Lue Frigates. We have repaired as many of the old fleet as we can" explained McDonald, his eyes almost watering.

"I'm sorry Sir…" Murrue had no idea what to say, had the Archangel come back to the Earth Alliance only to watch it die?

"Captain Ramius, I have a mission for you and your crew" McDonald straightened himself in his chair and put on a commanding voice

"A mission? With all due respect, I only have a skeleton crew. The Archangel has only a hand full of Windam and Dagger units" Murrue was shocked to say the least.

"Indeed, so I have arranged a transfer, as you will be aware there was a bombing raid at our Lunar Ship Yards. This has destroyed one of our newer vessels; the EAS Throne was more or less destroyed" McDonald pressed a few keys on his terminal and smiled at Murrue.

"The Throne?" Murrue raised her eye brow in question.

"Yes Throne as in Archangel; Dominion and Throne, the ranks of the heavenly hosts. The Throne would have been the third Archangel Class. Her crew was stationed here in Glasgow ready to be sent up next month, we will be able to transfer the remainder of her crew to the Archangel. Among them will be the newest G Project units, codenamed Defender, Scout, Titan, and Marauder" explained McDonald.

"New Gundams?" asked Murrue.

"Gundam?" McDonald raised his eyebrow in the same fashion Murrue had only moments before

"Oh back in the first war, Kira Yamato used to refer to the style of Mobile Suit like Aegis, Buster, Blitz, Duel and Strike as Gundams, the full acronym from their operating system" explained Murrue with a chuckle.

"I see. Up until now the project has had no official name, we can consider it the Gundam Project from now on" smiled McDonald.

"Yes sir" nodded Murrue. The wooden door to the office opened and Seiei walked in.

"Sir you requested to see me?" Seiei stood staunch and crisp in front of McDonald and Murrue, her hands clasped behind her back.

"Ah yes. Lieutenant Seiei Kofun, this is Captain Murrue Ramius, Captain of the Archangel" explained McDonald, he knew introductions were not necessary, but a formality.

"It's and honour to meet you ma'am" Seiei nodded.

"Thank you" Murrue stood and saluted Seiei before she sat back down.

"I was just telling Captain Ramius about your squadron" McDonald extended his hand to offer Seiei a seat. "Since we have lost the Thrones, I have assigned your squadron to the Archangel instead, and I have a special mission for you"

"Sir" Seiei nodded in compliance.

"Admiral, you mentioned the mission before. May I ask what it is?" asked Murrue carefully

"Indeed, about a week ago as you all know three 04 Windams attacked Onogoro in a terrorist style raid, we have wrongly taken the blame as it was not our units that took part in the attack. I want the Archangel and the Gundam Squadron to investigate" Seiei raised an eyebrow to the word Gundam.

"I take it we have full access to any Alliance territory?" asked Seiei.

"Full access to all areas of the Alliance" nodded McDonald. At that moment another General entered the room. "Lieutenant if you will excuse us, I have the finer points to work out with the Captain, if you'd get your squadron ready for the transfer?"

"Aye Sir" Seiei stood up and saluted the room before leaving.

* * *

**-10:30am Feb 10th CE76-  
Earth Alliance HQ-Glasgow**

Murrue walked into the hanger bay of the Archangel where new units were being loaded in…these units were State of the Art…they were equipped with Neo-Trans-Phase-Armour and about 100 other gadgets Murrue couldn't remember

"Captain" Murdock walked over to Murrue scratching his head in mild frustration.

"What is it?" asked Murrue as she walked over and meet him half way across the hanger.

"It's the new units…I don't know how to store them all" explained Murdock. "Especially the Majors new Strike Unit…" sighed the engineer. All of a sudden the surroundings went dark as a Mobile Suit marched across the hanger, its large foot nearly stepping on the two senior officers. Murrue, with out a word grabbed Murdock and jumped away-taking Murdock with her.

"Watch out! Gundams are being loaded here people!" yelled a girls voice from the unit. The unit bore some resemblances to an X1 Destroy, but more to the old Buster Unit. Its chest section was home to a Scylla cannon like the Destroy's centre one, its legs were the same as Busters and so were its shoulders…apart from the two positron cannons equipped on its back behind either shoulder. Its head was almost identical to that of Raiders and the entire unit had a colour scheme like the Destroy's. The two officers stood up as they looked at the unit.

"What unit is that?" asked Murrue as she looked at Murdock's data pad.

"Uhhh the GAT X111 Obliterator under Seiei Kofun" replied Murdock as he sighed and handed the pad to Murrue.

"The Admiral said nothing about an Obliterator unit" Murrue held out her hand to take the pad from Murdock, she read it over. "Hmm, Seiei is assigned to it, all the other Gundams are here; Titan under Li Quan, Marauder under Dante Gaius, Scout under Danel Winder…nice names…." sighed Murrue as she handed the pad back to Murdock.

"Don't forget the majors X115 Striker unit" sighed Murdock.

"StrikER?" asked Murrue putting emphasis on the ER in its name "115?"

"Yeah…apparently the units stronger and they even boosted the power of the Striker Packs…" sighed Murdock

"Oh well" sighed Murrue.

"Hey people what's with all the sighing" smiled a black haired boy, his hair was mostly black but had multiple light blue highlights in random places.

"Oh…I don't think we have meet before…are you one of the new techs?" asked Murdock as she noticed the boys mechanics uniform.

"No ,no I am Danel Winder…pilot of Scout…I'm just wearing this because I was helping with the transfer and calibration of the Gundams" smiled the boy as he handed Murrue a small data pad.

"These are?" asked Murrue as she skimmed over he contents of the data pad.

"The specs for Scout…or do you want them?" asked Danel pointing to Murdock.

"Yeah I better have them…get my men accustomed to it" laughed Murdock as he took the pad from Murrue. "Oy, Peters get over here…" yelled Murdock, the young boy came over to Murdock's side, he had long yellow hair, and his name badge read Winston

"Hey Danel!" a girl with long pink hair ran over to Danel. She wore the same pink uniform Miriallia and Flay wore in the first war.

"Hey Seiei" smiled Danel as he high-fived the girl.

"Oh, Captain!" Seiei stuttered as she raised her hand and saluted to Murrue.

"Captain…wait…YOUR Murrue RAMIUS?" Danel looked shocked and Murrue nodded to him. "PLEASE TO MEET YOU MA'AM!" Danel raised his salute to Murrue and stood in formal military stance.

"Oh I give up…I'm going to my room…get me when we are ready to launch" sighed Murrue as she threw her arms up behind her head and walked off.

"Danel my friend…this is going to be one LONG assignment" laughed Seiei as she patted the boy on his back.

* * *

Please R&R!


	2. Phase 2: Countdown

Hey guys! heres the second chapter up and ready! Its got a few changed (Namely Athrun and Kira's roles are switched thanks to that freaking Special Edition!)

Hope you enjoy!

**-1:30pm Feb 10th CE76-  
Onogoro Base-ORB Union**

Cagalli walked across the scattered rubble that had once, only days ago been the pride of ORB's military. She passes pieces of destroyed Astray and Murusame units. Onogoro had been razed again. The second time in a decade the hidden Island had been torn asunder by a superior force. The buildings were broken; the once proud hanger bays had been reduced to smouldering piles of concrete and iron. It was a dark site; even in a time of peace they were not safe from the ravages of war. Cagalli was shadowed by the supreme commander of ORB's Mobile Suit units, Athrun Zala, her brother and body guard. Cagalli marched into the centre of a large smouldering hanger; it was the main hanger bay of Onogoro. She had been spending a lot of time on the mainland the past few months and had not been to the armoury in some time…it felt like she had been away from her home for decades, only to come back and find it gone. The blonde girl walked through the broken building, the roof had caved in and sun light poured through the open whole. Cagalli stepped in something that seemed to mush around her foot. Cagalli looked down and saw it was the ORB unions flag, the flag was soaked in oil of some kind. Not to far from the symbol of ORB was a flight helmet, its glass was shattered, the padding stained with blood.

"529 dead…All killed with out reason, with out cause…killed in cold blood" Cagalli looked around and crouched down to stroke the helmet. "They enlisted to protect ORB…and now they are with Haumea. Why did they do this…no matter I cannot let this go" Cagalli picked up her cell phone from her pocket and dialled her secretaries number. "Esther…I need you to gather the Emirs…tell them the meeting is urgent" Cagalli hung up and walked back out of the hanger and over to her black limo. "Athrun…" Cagalli looked at her brother.

"I hear you…I want you to know…Cagalli…I will always be by your side. I will use my powers to help" Nodded Athrun as he saluted Cagalli out of respect for her position. Athrun held the same ideal in his heart as well. The slaughter of that many lives could not be tolerated; it must be shown that ORB would not bow down.

"Thanks Athrun. If push comes to shove we might end up at war with the Alliance again" Cagalli got back into her limo and was joined by Athrun.

"I wish that it will not come to that" replied Athrun. "Captain Black, how is you're team doing?" Athrun looked at the front of the limo

"But if it does come to war, my squadron will be ready" he wore an ORB uniform, holding the rank of Commander.

"If it comes to war, we will need a solid first strike. The Alliance may have limited numbers, but their ability to replenish those numbers is astounding, and so is there dedication" explained Athrun as the limo slowly began to drive away

"As is their ability for barbarism" explained Klaus. "The Bloody Valentine, the Requiem Massacre and now the Onogoro Attack"

"Agreed" nodded Athrun. "Klaus, your squadron is one of the most skilled in our military, we'll be giving you the newest Mobile Suits we have" explained Athrun. "I hope you will not disappoint us"

"No Sir, we will bring back the peace no matter what the cost" Klaus saluted

"Good, we will show you the new units for your squadron" Cagalli sighed as the limo set off for the main land. The car came onto the main highway and passed the end of the Jiyuu Straight all the way to Kaguya's military base. "I truly wish this was avoidable, but we must show the world that ORB cannot be pushed around" explained Cagalli as she got out of the car and walked over to the large silver hanger bay.

"I know Cagalli, but you're right, we have tried to be diplomatic in the past, but the Alliance never listens" replied Athrun as he shadowed the representative. Klaus said nothing as he followed the two into the hanger. The hanger was located under ground and could not be seen by the naked eye, only a hand few knew of its existence. This hanger was the 'Vault of Light' here was kept the strongest weapons ORB had: X19a Infinite Justice, ORB 01 Akatsuki and three new units. Each unit looked unique from the other, but had similarities. The first unit was a dull grey and was equipped with twin beam rifles similar to Strike Freedom's, a shoulder mounted cannon, in the units wrists were mounted two small beam sabres, the plate below the unit read ORB 02 Scarlet. The unit to its left resembled a hybrid between Raider and a Murusame, its frame was mostly reminiscent of a Murusame, its shield bore a in built high powered blaster gun, its flaps now had a set of folded up beam claws like raiders but smaller, the frame differed from the Murusame with more streamlined MA form and a bigger build for its MS form. The units name plate read ORB 03 Cerulean. The last unit was a close combat model. It was equipped with a large 'bastard sword' on its left shoulder like the ZAKU's shield, it has two large beam Boomerangs equipped on its back that made a diamond shaped backpack. The name plate below it read ORB 04 Viridian

"Representative" Erica Simmons walked over to the young leader of ORB.

"Erica-San?" Cagalli looked at her trusted technical adviser.

"We have finished the final tuning for Viridian, Cerulean and Scarlet" smiled Erica as she ticked off the last items on her list.

"Excellent" nodded Cagalli. "Commander Black, these are the new units for your squadron" Cagalli looked across at the Gundams.

"Thank you Representative" Klaus saluted and then bowed.

* * *

**-9am Feb 13th CE76-  
Parliament House-ORB Union**

Seiei walked into the Flight Officers Lounge right above the hanger bay where her squadron waited for her "Wow this ship is huge, I almost got lost on my way here!"

"It is pretty large" smiled Danel.

"Very impressive" Dante looked down into the hanger where their units were being checked by tech crews.

"Got our orders Lt?" asked Danel as he walked over and sat on one of the leather couches.

"Yeah, looks like we're heading to the Pacific" Seiei's squad mates' eyes all widened and their jaws dropped "You guessed it, to the Orb Union's boarder. We think we know the location of the site where the Windams rendezvoused with an Alliance Carrier to resupply"

"What are the odds of us being intercepted by any Orb Union ships?" asked Li as she stood up from a bar stool and walked over to Seiei.

"We don't know, the area we're going to search is 30km on our side of the boarder, so we shouldn't encounter any Orb ships, well we hope we won't" explained Seiei.

* * *

**-9am Feb 14th CE76-  
Parliament House-ORB Union**

Cagalli sat behind a large oak desk in the press room, her hands clasped in front of her as news crews set up their cameras and such for Cagalli's first international press release since the attack. Nerves were running high.

"Ahem" Cagalli cleared her throat and the room instantly fell silent. "Good morning, I am Cagalli Yula Athha, Head of State and Representative of the Orb Union. I have called you all here today to make an announcement" Cagalli's words were broadcast all across the world and far into the reaches of space where they were watched by Lacus and Kira on PLANT. "As many of you are most likely aware of one week ago, our Onogoro Base was attacked by a trio of GAT 04 Windam units belonging to the Earth Alliance. We, the Orb Union will not tolerate this terrorist action, we here by demand that the Earth Alliance pay reparations to us or the damages and loss of life, we also demand that they hand over all those responsible in the planning and execution of this raid. The Orb Union has fought along side the citizens of this world to obtain peace, now that infant peace is in danger; I pray that you, people of the Earth Alliance, hold your leaders responsible for their actions" Murrue watched the broadcast from her office aboard the Archangel, she sat with a coffee in her hand while Mwu rested on her desk also looking at the announcement. Seiei also watched, with her squadron in the Flight Officers Lounge. "If these conditions are not met, we will respond accordingly"

"Seiei…" Li looked up from the couch at Seiei who stood with her hand on the back of the couch. The words that came next shocked the crew.

"That idiot" Shinn threw a basket ball against his ceiling and caught it as it rebounded "I wonder what Lacus will do…" Shinn threw the ball again.

"I would now like to address my former comrades, the crew of the Archangel. Murrue-San, your crew has always fought for Justice and Freedom, to be an honest force of good in the world, why now do you side with a corrupt power like the Earth Alliance? Please, return to those who wish for peace. Thank you" with those words Cagalli stood up and walked out of the room with out saying another words, she left the press and viewers stunned

* * *

**-10:30pm Feb 17th CE76-  
Cook Islands off the Oceanic Union-Pacific Ocean**

The mood on the Archangel was not a happy one. The Archangel's course would take her close to the ORB Unions boarder; it was common knowledge now that the Legged Ship was part of OMNI enforcer yet again. All the crew hopped to avoid a confrontation with the pacific power. The crew had been struck hard by Cagalli's ultimatum to the Alliance; it wasn't like her at all. The ultimatum weighed heavy on the old Archangel crew, mainly because Cagalli had requested that the Archangel return to ORB.

"Ma'am" Miriallia turned around to Murrue.

"What is it Ensign?" asked Murrue.

"We have four ORB Aegis Class cruisers approaching from dead ahead" explained Miriallia.

"What?" Murrue's spine shivered, "Have they seen us?" she asked quietly

"I'm not sure ma'am, I can't be certain" replied Miriallia.

"Lieutenant Nueman, thirty degrees to starboard, try and evade them" ordered Murrue.

"Impossible" interrupted Miriallia. "We have 4 Aegis class cruisers coming from Starboard and 4 more from the port as well. We are cornered" Miriallia relayed the situation to Murrue. "They are hailing us"

"Put it through" ordered Murrue.

"Attention Archangel, this is General Matagu Kousei, Captain of the Herikawa, we are here to seize and search your vessel in regards to the attacks made against our Onogoro base. We damned that you surrender to us unconditionally or we will shoot your ship down" ordered the ORB commanders voice. "We will not ask again. You have 1 minute"

"Damn…we can't avoid this…DAMN!" Murrue picked up the phone as she remembered about Mwu. He quickly punched the keys and called Mwu's COM line.

"What is it Captain?" asked Mwu.

"Major, we are cornered by an ORB attack force, we need you to Sortie…can you?" asked Murrue.

"Yea…I've wanted to give this Exass Striker a try" laughed Mwu, his laugh was convincing on the outside, but everyone knew he was dreading this.

"Okay…Any of our other units able to launch?" asked Murrue.

"Not yet, we are still equipping the experimental leg boosters" The other screen flashed with Murdock's face.

"Understood" nodded Murrue. "Miriallia, relay this message to the incoming ORB vessels…tell them we will not surrender to a search of our vessel, tell them that if any hostile action is made towards this vessel we will respond with deadly force" explained Murrue.

"Understood Captain" nodded Miriallia as she adjusted her microphone. "Attention armed forces of the ORB union, this is the EAS Archangel, negative on the surrender, negative on the seizer of this vessel. If your forces attempt to engage this vessel we will respond with deadly force" explained Miriallia. "There you go" Miriallia breathed out for a moment.

"Thank you…" Murrue whispered under her breath

"Orb vessels are launching Mobile Suits" explained Dalida. One by one the Murusame jumped from the 12 carriers and transformed into their Mobile armour modes. The Mobile Armours then set course for the Archangel, weapons at the ready.

Striker moved to the catapult and was dropped into its carry frame. The gates around the unit opened up and the multiple pods were equipped, the pods were the same as the ones used by the Alliances Exass MA's. The purple pods were equipped on both arms, both shoulders, the body of the armour came out behind Strike and separated into two sections, the head section was equipped upside down on its back with its large engine grid on its back.

"Mwu La Flaga, Strike heading out!" the white, red and blue Gundam took off and activated its Armour.

"Major, you have 18 Murusame incoming, we are going to try and help" smiled Miriallia. As Miriallia spoke the Archangel's missile tubes and Gottfried cannons opened up, ready to blast the enemy.

"Thanks Miri-chan" winked Mwu as his unit closed into a squad of four Murusame. Mwu raised his arm forward and fired his twin lasers on his left arm; the beams clipped both the units wings. "Ho ho, not bad" Another Murusame came from below Mwu's position. "Oh no" Mwu flicked both the laser cannons on the armours head across his thighs (Like Freedoms rail guns) and fired, he managed to hit its head section and sent it spiralling into the water.

**-10:40pm-  
Inside ORB's boarder-Pacific Ocean**

Another ORB carrier observed the battle from a distance, just inside the territorial boarders of ORB

"How is the Archangel holding up?" asked Klaus.

"It is too early to say, but from our current observation, the Archangel's main Mobile Suit X115 Striker is holding off the attacking Murusame" explained an officer dressed in an ORB union officers suit.

"Hmmm oh well" I was hoping that they would provide a good show…lets hope it pulls through the next phase" smiled Klaus as he retreated from the command deck

"Sir…" the officer looked a little confused at what Klaus meant. Suddenly two small blips appeared on his radar. "What in the name of..?" the officer looked carefully at the signals. "Computer, identify incoming units and numbers" ordered the officer.

"Confirmed…inbound units, count 2, identified as GAT 04 Windam" explained the computer.

"Have they seen us?" asked the officer as he pressed keys on his console.

"Negative, attacking units are engaging the ORB Murusame forces currently engaged with the Archangel" recited the computer.

"Oh no…these are…" the officer looked up at the main window. He was to far away to see the units battling…

--

"CAPTAIN! We have 2 Windam units incoming!" Miriallia read of her screen.

"What?" Mwu sliced off a unit's arm and blasted away its head as he over heard the announcement Miriallia had made.

"Windam units are moving to engage the ORB forces…" explained Miriallia. The two Windams zoomed in and out of the laser fire and missiles, firing blasts back and forth at the Murusame units

"Palom, I'm going after the carrier on the port, you take care of the Murusame" ordered one of the pilots.

"Understood Parom…" replied Palom as his unit fired a thin laser bolt threw the heart of a Murusame, destroying it and killing its pilot. "Pffft, and I was hoping for more from ORB" laughed the pilot as his black Windam streaked across the water, trailing a dozen Hayate missiles, the small explosives blew up on the water and gave a convenient smoke screen for Palom to shoot down two more Murusame.

"Archangel, what is going on?" asked Mwu as he disabled another Murusame, this one was shot in to by Palom's laser rifle "Who the hell are these guys?" asked Mwu.

"We don't know. There is no listing of their IFF code on data banks" explained Miriallia.

"Hold on…these could be the units trying to frame us fro the attack on ORB…Major, can you capture one of the Windams?" ordered Murrue.

"Negative…they are to fast for me" snapped Mwu as she clenched his fists.

"My Defender can do it" Seiei's face appeared on the screen.

"What? Ensign Kofun…what do you mean?" asked Murrue as the Archangel rocked under to force of a missile from one of the Aegis class ships.

"We have finished the leg boosters for our units, we want to Sortie!" begged Seiei.

"But uh oh,…do you have any battle experience?" asked Murrue looking at the girls image.

"Yes we all have been through real battles. Please let us launch!" begged Seiei.

"Very well. Get airborne" Ordered Murrue.

"Thank you ma'am" smiled Seiei as she unit dropped into her cattie. "Seiei Kofun, Defender lets do it!" yelled Seiei as her unit took off.

"Li Quan, Titan taking off" the large bulky mustard coloured unit took off and landed on the water.

"Dante Gaius, Marauder heading out!" Dante's white and red unit took off into the air.

"Danel Winder, Scout lets go!" Danel's white and grey unit took off into the air and then disappeared under a Mirage Colloid.

"Danel, Dante, you two attack the Murusame trying to take down the Archangel. Li you help the Major take down those Murusame…I'm going after the Windam" Smirked Seiei.

"Understood" replied Seiei's squad.

"Hold on their young lady!" Mwu opened a com link to Seiei. "You can't take those guys, they were able to hold off Athrun" explained Mwu.

"Yeah…but I am me" smiled Seiei as she flipped over her two heavy beam cannons. "Hi" she smirked as she fired the two large beams, the Windam struggled to evade the attack.

"Wow. That unit's powerful" laughed Palom as he saw the beams hit the ocean and evaporate a large amount of it. "But let's see JUST how good you are" smirked the pilot of the attacking Windam. Palom grabbed his beam sabre and headed for Seiei. Palom slashed across her units face with his beam sabre. Seiei managed to evade the blast and fell into the water.

"See how you like this" Seiei's missile pods fired lance dart like missiles and clipped Palom's shield; the blast set off both missiles, Palom was able to drop the shield before he lost his arm.

"She is good" Palom stored his beam sabre and threw his Armour Penetrator at Seiei's unit. The girl evaded just in time. Defender shot out of the water and spun around before flinging its arms out wide.

"These guys are good" sighed Seiei. "Time to use 'it'" sighed Seiei. She closed her eyes and thought of victory, the power she needed to save her friends, and the power she had to use…Seiei snapped into her SEED mode.

"Go down!" yelled Palom as he fired his laser rifle over and over at Seiei. Seiei smirked and dove back into the ocean.

"People like you don't deserve to use a WINDAM!" cried Seiei as her unit jumped from the water and grabbed the Windam. "I'll take you DOWN!" she yelled as she fired her heavy beam cannons at it's head.

"Damn it!" Palom broke free and flew away "Parom, we are withdrawing!" ordered Palom as his unit was fired on by Seiei's.

"Roger that, I will cover you!" Parom came in firing his beam rifle and forced Seiei off her mark. With a quick launch of its missiles the Windam set up a smoke screen for them to escape.

"Damn!" Seiei punched her screen in frustration, "Next time for sure!" she cursed.

"Miriallia…did you get all their battle Data?" asked Murrue.

"Yes…entering it into the Alliance main frame" replied the ex journalist.

"Good, order our Mobile Suits to return. Lt. Nueman once the Mobile Suits have returned, go full power to the engines and get us out of here"

"Roger that" nodded the two officers.

On the ORB vessel that was observing the battle.

"Captain…the Archangel has escaped our trap" explained the officer.

"Hmmm, understood, relay that message to Parliament house." instructed Klaus as he walked towards the bridge's exit. "Looks like you were right brother, she is an annoying ship…"

* * *

Hey Guys and Gals. HOPE you enjoyed that chapter. As you can see Seiei is a STRONG pilot. I thought that it would be good to have her strong from the beginning because she was supposed to have fought in the previous two wars and earned high honours

Since this is a re-write of the original Revenge, I will clarify now the main characters. Originally Seiei was supposed to be the centre of the plot, but she ended up being swept around by the story, in the end of what I wrote the main cast ended up being the main characters almost equally (Soap opera) so expect a lot of the characters to get page time (Seiei, Li, Dante, Danel and Shinn)

And Yes the Archangel is the main ship of the story, here's the justification; after watching Seed and Destiny with my friends, we found that the Archangel had become 'larger than life' almost like the RX from the original Gundam. So it's back again, not to mention it's the only OMNI designed vessel capable of space and aerial flight, as well as underwater combat, and I didn't want to have to make a new ship and new crew. But yes it's true, the Archangel would be getting a little dated, even with constant refits… So there will be a new ship coming in at some point, the Archangel might still be around though (With arms similar to ZAFT's Flag Ship the Minerva, I think its safe to say that the Archangel still would be worth having)

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! R&R!


	3. Phase 3: The Tasks at Hand

Ok there is a bit of difference because I am revaluating the time stamps I introducedat the start of the series. They will only be Time Stamps at certain points in the story. *Major events mostly, whether the events in the chapter span days, weeks or seconds*

Well I hope you enjoy this chapter.

* * *

**Feb 26th  
Armoury 1**  
Yzak Jule walked through the Zaft base of Armoury One. He was personally in charge of the distribution of the latest Mobile Suit designs. Yzak was shadowed by his long time partner and now Fiancée Shiho Hahnenfuss. Chaos was the only word to sum up the situation on Armoury Two, soldiers ran around loading and unloading supplies and moving to their new ships.

"SIR!" A blonde haired man ran over to Yzak.

"Ah Dearka. What is it?" asked Yzak as he turned around to the now black coat man.

"We just need you to sign off on these transfer papers" Dearka handed Yzak a digital pad with the list of Mobile suits and their destinations.

"Very well" Yzak signed if off with his thumb print.

"The Athena's Captain wants to know when the new Gouf N units will be shipped over as well" explained Dearka as he put the pad under his arm

"Tell the Captain that once we get the next group off the assembly line, they will be transferred" explained Yzak.

"If we're not going to war, why are we rushing the Athena into service?" asked Dearka as he made sure his hat was straight.

"Use your head Dearka, or is it a decoration as well?" Yzak smirked.

"I think Yzak is trying to tell you that the Athena is a precaution, should the fires of war be reignited, Zaft needs to be ready to defend the Plants" explained Shiho, speaking as she rarely did. The trio looked at the giant metal wall that hid Zaft's newest Battle Ship. Behind the giant walls, Zaft technicians worked around the clock to finish the BB02 Athena, the second vessel of the Minerva Line. The Athena waited for her prized cargo, a squadron of Gouf N units.

* * *

Aboard the Athena, ZAFT technicians worked on the final checks for the Athena. Her launch was scheduled to take place in one week.

"Dacosta!" Andrew forced the elevator door open and walked onto the bridge.

"Captain" Dacosta firmly saluted as Andrew approached the red head.

"What's the ships situation?" asked Andrew as he looked around at technicians installing panelling on the bridge. By the tasks the technicians were carrying out, he could guess the ship wasn't exactly 'finished'.

"Maintenance crews are still installing the main computer core, our Gouf N units are not ready yet, the parts for out Linear Catapult system are due to be installed on Wednesday, and the bridge is, well… look" Dacosta pointed around the bridge. Not just was there panelling being put on the walls, entire consoles were still to be installed.

"Uh" Andrew sighed as he slapped his face.

"The Maintenance crews assure me they will have the bridge completed by this time tomorrow" Dacosta turned to check on the weapons console being installed next to him.

"Oh well" Andrew sat down in what would soon be his chair. The moment the man sat in it and laid against the back, the chair toppled and Andrew was sent to the floor with a thump and a curse.

* * *

On another section of Armoury 1 the Minerva was being elevated up onto the main deck.

"All systems clear. Minerva docking complete" Meyrin spoke into her head piece and announced their situation to the ship.

"That was easy" smiled Malik from the helm.

"It was just a lunar run, nothing amazing" Chen sighed as he slumped back into his chair.

"I don't think I even detected a single Dagger on that entire run" Bart chuckled to himself.

"Shinn; how was that? Your first mission as Commander?" asked Meyrin as she looked down at the raven haired boy.

"I…suppose" Shinn sat back.

"I think you did a fine job" Arthur took off his white officer's hat and smiled at Shinn. "You make me proud"

"Thank you sir" Shinn nodded.

"Captain, the Port Crews are requesting permission to come aboard" Meyrin piped up.

"Give them permission" acknowledged Arthur.

"Captain, Lacus-Sama is requesting Shinn Asuka meet her on Aprilius 1 immediately" explained Meyrin from her console.

"Understood" replied Arthur as he looked at Shinn, the boy stood up and walked over to the lift once the Bridge had locked back into place. Shinn proceeded to the hanger, boarded Destiny and headed over to Aprilius post haste. En route he noticed Strike Freedom, a white and blue Gouf Ignited also approaching Aprilius 1, undoubtedly piloted by Yzak Jule.

* * *

"Lacus-Sama, Shinn Asuka, Kira Yamato and Yzak Jule are here now" the voice of her receptionist took Lacus out of her trance like state, rewatching the only footage of the Onogoro attack.

Lacus tapped the com switch on her desk "Please, send them in" the large door then clicked open. The State Office had undergone a major redress following Lacus' appointment as Chairman, the usually dark room was now well lit, showing off the pale purples and blues, as well as the white one expected of the Coordinator buildings.

"Lacus" The three young men lined up in front of her desk and saluted crisply.

"At ease" Lacus saluted back. There was a long moment of silence before anyone spoke; Shinn dared not speak until spoken to, Kira allowed Lacus to formulate her thoughts, Yzak stayed silent out of respect, he had been summoned for a reason. "Ms. Cagalli, rather the United Emirates of Orb has um" Lacus was visibly flustered, she rubbed her forehead and sighed, taking another moment to compose herself. "I am sure you are all aware of the United Emirates of Orb's declaration of War on the Earth Alliance" Lacus' eyes were heavy, she hadn't slept in days, Coordinators could go one or two days with out sleep, but Lacus was pushing even that boundary.

"Yes Ma'am" replied Yzak with a staunch nod.

"Yes" Kira replied.

"I am" Shinn nodded as well. The three white coated officers stood silently still.

"The Council has been deliberating on our position in this conflict" Lacus activated a map of the 12 Plant cities, now spread across the 5 Lagrange points of the Earth. "The Councillors belonging to of Januarius, Junis, October and December have been pressing to join Orb in the war. Februarius, Aprilius, Maius and Sextilis remain committed to a diplomatic solution while; Martius, Quintilis, September and November have all motioned to not get involved at all" Lacus continued to rub her temples.

"The deciding vote does belong to you Lacus" Kira spoke up.

"I cannot cast my vote without more in formation" Lacus motioned towards the large monitor to her left.

"The Windam attack" Shinn was short and concise.

"Indeed. I called you here today, to entrust special tasks to each of you. You three are my most trusted personnel within Zaft" Lacus stood up, leaving her hands on the table. "Shinn, as a Top Ace from the previous war, you carry much respect from the personnel of Zaft, I want you to make sure that the officers know that we are still at peace with the Alliance. Kira, I want you to go to Orb, meet with Athrun and find out everything they know about these attacks" ordered Lacus as she moved onto Yzak "Take the Eternal, I want you to look for clues out side of Orb, I give you full diplomatic access" Lacus was about to give Shinn his task, when the raven haired boy spoke up.

"I wish to take that assignment"

"Shinn?" Yzak and Kira moved their heads to look at Shinn.

"I followed Chairman Durandal's orders with out question. I was swayed by his words, never looking into things. I won't do it this time, I can't stay ignorant. Ms. Lacus, please allow me to partake in the investigation!" Shinn bowed down low in front of Yzak, Kira and Lacus.

"Shinn" The two other young men could feel Shinn's shame and anger at his past actions.

"Very well, you will depart on the Eternal" ordered Lacus.

"I will assign Dearka to cover his post on the Minerva" explained Yzak.

"Very well, dismissed" nodded Lacus as the boys left the room. Lacus slumped back into her chair. The pink haired girl's gaze drifted over to a picture of her and her father on the side of her table. Slowly she ran her hand down the frame "Father, am I doing the right thing?" she asked.

* * *

_Later that day..._  
"Orb?" asked Lunamaria as she watched Shinn walking around his apartment grabbing cloths. "You're going back to Orb?" she asked.

"Yes" nodded Shinn as he packed his officers uniform into the bag, Shinn was in his favourite black T and grey jeans, almost a uniform for when he was not in uniform.

"But I…You said your mission was to search for clues OUT side of that country" Lunamaria looked highly confused.

"I know, the Eternal is carrying down Kira and Strike Freedom as well as supplies for Carpentaria" Shinn stopped packing for a moment and looked at his medium size case with a raised eye brow.

Luna closed her eyes, smiled and opened them again "Tooth brush"

"Thanks" Shinn blushed before darting to the bathroom and returning with the brush a few moments later.

"Totally hopeless" Luna laughed with a smile.

* * *

**Feb 28th  
Archangel  
Pasific Ocean  
**Seiei walked into the mess hall with Li at her side. The two of them were discussing their first sortie as they went to collect their meals. A roast with mashed potatoes and a mix of vegetables, totally palatable, but Seiei wished for something more.

"You know…" Seiei stopped right before the table Li had chosen.

"Hmm?" Li sat down, placing her tray in front of her.

"I was just thinking about the battle we had before" Seiei sat down, placing her tray in front of her.

"What about the other day?" Li began to poke at her roast. "Are you bugged about it?"

"Yeah, it's just that, well. It's the three Windam units that disabled Infinite Justice" explained Seiei.

"Are you not proud we were able to fend them off?" Li raised her eye brow.

"Oh no of course I am. I am just wondering HOW we did it. We all went down PRETTY quick in the last war when we fought Destiny"

"And we got stronger"

"Yeah there is no denying that. But Destiny couldn't beat Justice in battle, and… oh I'm getting confused" Seiei rubbed her head.

"I get it though. WE got beaten by someone, but we beat the guys who beat up the guy who trashed the guy we lost to" smiled Li innocently

"You know, I'm a Coordinator and that still confused me, are you sure you used enough guys and beating up?" asked Seiei sarcastically.

Li held up her hand and began counting on her fingers. "Yeah I'm pretty sure. But then again, are you complaining?" asked Li with an innocent smirk.

"I know I should be grateful that I wasn't blown to pieces like the Orb forces were" replied Seiei.

Li was about to make reply when the communication officers voice came out over the loud speaker.

"Pilots, please report to the briefing room" Seiei and Li were up and prepared to leave. As Li walked out, Seiei followed her to the door before turning around, running back to her table and grabbing her tray. When she met up with Li just outside the door the Chinese girl gave her an odd look.

"What?" Seiei returned Li's odd gaze.

"Nothing" Li giggled.

* * *

"Sorry we're late" Li and Seiei quickly took their seats along the side of the long briefing room table.

"It's alright. This briefing isn't immediately important" explained Murrue. The two female pilots quickly and quietly sat down next to Danel and Dante. "As you all know, the forces OMNI has at its disposal are very limited. We suffered heavy losses in the past wars; loosing Heaven's Base, Panama, Alaska, and our Luna bases in the Ptolemaists, Daedalus and Arzachel Craters. This has left us with only the newly constructed Alphonsus Crater base on the moon and Eurasia's Apollo Asteroid base, Glasgow and Suez" Murrue showed images of all the bases. "This is contrasted by the Orb Unions Hinode Space Colony, Ame-no-Mihashira, Onogoro and Kaguya bases" Murrue showed more images.

"We are one for one then?" Danel spoke up looking at the screens.

"Almost, the technology employed by the Orb Union is quite advanced, their M1 Astray units are constantly being upgraded and with the development of the Murusame they are able to match the prowess of our Windams" explained Li from her seat.

"We may be able to hold out in the current Status Quo, but the fact of the matter is PLANT has yet to make a ruling on the war. If they are to enter the war on behalf of the Orb Union, we will be seriously outmatched and out gunned" Murrue's tone was completely sober "Head Quarters has ordered us to head to Suez and assist in fortifying the base"

"Well that's hardly worth the briefing" whispered Seiei as she started to munch on her mash potatoes. Everyone in the room turned to look at the red headed coordinator. "A girl's gotta eat!" she defended.

"Ahem" Murrue attempted to regain control of the briefing. "This briefing is to keep you all up to date on our orders. Once we reach Suez I will also arrange shore leave" Murrue cracked a smile.

"Captain, you have a message from HQ" the communications officer explained over the intercom in the briefing room.

Murrue pressed the intercom switch on the podium "Very well, I will take it in here" she gestured for the pilots to leave. The pilots quickly left the room, most of them eyeing Seiei's meal, the red head defended it with snaps and glares that could burn through laminated armour.

* * *

Once she was alone Murrue activated the locking mechanism on the doors and opened the message.

"Captain Ramius" Admiral McDonald appeared on the other end of the transmission.

"Sir" Murrue saluted back with respect.

"You have adjusted your course to head to Suez correct?" asked the Admiral, sitting in a large leather chair at Glasgow.

"Yes Sir, we will arrive in 4 days at our current speed"

"What route are you taking?" McDonald opened up a map on his end of the screen.

"We are using the S12 Route, running along the boarder of the Equatorial Union" replied Murrue.

"I want you to change your course and come via route M62, through the only Panama Cannel and to make a temporary stop at Glasgow" ordered the Admiral.

"Sir, yes sir" saluted Murrue. "May I speak freely sir?"

"Go ahead"

"Why are we to follow route M62? That will take us along the Orb Union boarder again, and will add 3 days to our journey" The Archangel's Captain had due reason for her concern, is the ship was forced to fight the Orb Union's fleet again, it could escalate tensions further and prompt PLANT into action.

"You will find a sensor buoy in the Panama Cannel; we need you to bring us that sensor data. Captain Ramius, under NO circumstances is that buoy's information to be downloaded or digitised, it must remain untouched. Any and all crews involved in its retrieval will need to undergo screening and evaluation when you arrive at Glasgow" explained McDonald.

"Sir…"

"I am aware these measures are drastic, but in time I will be able to give you the details on the buoy" explained McDonald.

"Very well sir. I will go have Mr Nueman alter our course" Murrue saluted.

"Captain Ramius, I don't think I need to tell you to keep the existence of the Buoy a secret until you reach Panama"

"Sir no sir" Murrue replied.

"Good. I'm counting on you" McDonald shut off the comline. Taking a moment to compose herself Murrue activated the bridge comline. "Mr Nueman"

"Captain?" Nueman's voice came over the speakers

"We have new orders…"

* * *

Well I hope that was as entertaining as it was for me.

Changes from the Original:  
Yzak's generic agro has been removed  
The BAD scene in the council was removed.

I have provided a list of the major Omni bases still in operation. Of all those listed only Suez is an actual canon base. The Alphonsus Crater is a lunar Crater in the same zone as Daedalus and Arzachel, Apollo is another base similar to Artemis, and Glasgow is the new head of the Earth Alliance Militray on Earth *I assume Heaven's Base was, but that was more or less blown up*

I thought i'd add a bit of humor to the story, with Seiei being a bit like Jack O'neil from Stargate, thought not quite as clueless. Some of the Astray characters will be making appearences, mainly from Stargazer and appearences by Shiho.

Anyway R&R and Keep READING!  
Thank you.


	4. Phase 4: Arrival at Suez

**March 3rd****  
Egypt  
****Suez**** Cannel**

"This is Suez Control to LCAM-01XA Archangel. You may proceed to port one." The Suez operator's voice rang out around the Archangel, her bridge crew let out a sigh of relief.

"This is the Archangel to Suez Control, roger that" The Archangel slowly turned and began to reverse into Suez.

Out on the observation deck, Seiei and the other members of her squadron were indulging in the fresh air. The youths all looked around with admiration, most of Omni's remaining forces on Earth had gathered at Suez, naval ships of every class were moored in the harbour; Hannibal Land Carriers were dotted around the base, along with a large number of Mobile Suits and two Destroy units.

"GFAS X1 Destroy" Li whispered.

"The Butcher of Berlin" Seiei echoed.

"I still can't believe Logos would do that to people" Danel sighed as he leaned down on the railing, resting his chin on it.

"Damn Logos, for everything he did wrong, I think Durandal was right to stomp them out." Dante looked at the dark coloured unit as the Archangel moved past.

"We may not like what the first one did, or why they were created, but right now the Earth Alliance needs the power of the X1 Destroy" explained Seiei as she put her hand on Dante's shoulder. "I do agree with you about Durandal though"

"Lieutenant Kofun" Mwu was resting on the archway of the observation deck's door. "Come on, we have a meeting with Commodore Hawass, Suez's CO" Mwu turned around and walked back into the ship.

"Sir" Seiei smiled at her comrades and walked back into the ship, giving them a wave over her shoulder.

* * *

Seiei continuously readjusted her pink beret as she walked along with Murrue and Mwu to their meeting with the base commander. A recent addition of Omni's wardrobe, the beret was used in formal occasions by all non-commissioned officers. The Archangel's command staff walked into a large meeting room where three Omni officers awaited them, one flag officer, his aid and a Lieutenant Commander.

"Archangel Captain Murrue Ramius" Murrue saluted the officers

"Archangel Executive Officer Mwu La Flaga"

"Mobile Suit Squadron Leader Seiei Kofun"

The flag officer stood up from the desk and introduced himself "I am Commodore Bassam Hawass; I am in command here at Suez. Please be seated" the Commodore held out his hand, offering the Archangel crew a seat.

"Thank you" Murrue and her officers accepted the invitation.

"I take it your trip here was uneventful?" asked Hawass as a steward wheeled in a tray with local food.

"We had a minor run in with some Orb forces off their boarder before we received our orders" explained Murrue as she took a cup of tea from the trolley.

"I heard about that" Hawass took his own cup of tea and sipped it.

"My squadron and I were able to fend them off" Seiei spoke, beaming with pride.

"Ah you must be Lt. Kofun, I've heard much about you. Quite the pilot"

"Thank you sir" nodded Seiei.

"I noticed while looking over your file, your squadron continues to wear uniforms of Non-Commissioned Officers" the Commodore rested his elbow on the side of his chair.

"I suppose given the hectic nature of things at the moment our new uniforms got lost in translation somewhere" Seiei smiled.

"Possibly, I will have new uniforms sent over to the Archangel before you leave, your Squadron Patch should be easily transferable-" the console on the table beeped and glowed, alerting Hawass to an incoming message. The Commodore pressed the key and scanned the message. Commodore Hawass's face was drained of all colour.

"Captain Ramius, is your ship capable of launching?" his voice was parched and stuttery.

"Possibly, we are currently being resupplied" Murrue looked at Mwu and Seiei, then back to Hawass.

"We have received a distress call from a convoy bringing over the Joint Chiefs from Glasgow, they are under attack."

"We'll launch, will we get any back up?" asked Murrue as the officers stood up.

"The joint chief's fleet has 3 squadrons of Windam units and one of the new Strike units. The StrikeS" explained Hawass as Murrue reached the door, Seiei bolted past her yelling over her shoulder.

"I'll get my squad ready"

* * *

The convoy of 10 ships were bravely fighting off the enemy attack, Murusame units preformed bombing runs while Astray units fired from the sidelines. The commander of the lead ship, a Spengler class Carrier stumbled as a missile hit the side of his ships hull.

"Report!?" he barked.

"2 more Murusame squadrons have joined the attack"

"How are our Mobile Suit squadrons doing?" the Commander stumbled into his chair.

"Roughly 30% of them have been shot down. We can't take much more of this!" A Murusame unit flew up to the bridge and aimed its rifle straight at the bridge. Right before it could fire, a stream of plasma bolts tore the gun apart.

"What was that!?" asked the commander.

"StrikeS sir, Lieutenant Alexander Lasrudrace!" a unit resembling Strike flew past the bridge. The Gundam took point in front of the ship and fired its right arm twin linked plasma cannons. More flights of Murusame and Astray units quickly surrounded StrikeS.

"tish. I could hold them off if I was alone," Alex dodged the many green shots from the Orb units "but the fleet…" Alex scrunched his brow and continued his evasion manoeuvres.

"He's kept us safe up till now…hang in there Alex" the Captain of the convoy muttered.

"I'm trying" With Alex's attention tied up in evading the attacks of the units encircling him, a squad of Astray units came from a near by Aegis class, they were carrying heavy Bazooka's. "Oh shit!" Alex spun around; trying to get a weapons lock, but a group of Murusame prevented him from staying stationary long enough.

"Just leave it to us!" a confident voice came over the com.

"You mean leave it to ME!" a series of large bolts vaporised the attacking Astray units.

"Huh?" the units encircling Alex scattered as a series of multiphase attacks came in and shot a few down. "Those are…"

"The G3 units!" the Convoy Captain looked at the Archangels Mobile Suits.

"We're the GUNDAMS!" grinned Seiei as she fired her multiphase cannons over and over at the Orb forces. The beams skimmed two Astray units, Li and Dante rushed in an engaged the Orb suits in close combat, while Danel hung back and used his Ringo cannon for fire support.

"Mirialla, what are we up against?" asked Murrue as the battle appeared on the main viewer.

"Detecting six Aegis Class and four Kuraomikami Class. They're not responding to our hails…"

"Miriallia put me on the international distress channel then" Murrue stood up and picked up her chair's phone. "This is the Earth Alliance Mobile Assault Ship Archangel to attacking Orb fleet. Withdraw! Or we will be forced to engage!" ordered Murrue.

"That again?" Alex's unit spun around and looked at the Archangel. "Hmmm?" looking at his display, Alex noticed the Orb forces were in fact retreating.

"Come back here!" Seiei skimmed along, chasing the Orb forces.

"Stop" StrikeS flew in front of the G3 units. "We need to secure the safety of the fleet" ordered Alex as his suit flew back to the Joint Chiefs fleet.

* * *

"Well do you think we will get a rest now?" asked Seiei as she walked into the pilots lounge after the battle and threw her helmet onto the floor before flopping on a couch.

"I had barely packed my bags for shore leave before *boom* we are ordered to sortie" Li sat in one of the large arm chairs.

"When I signed up they promised surprises" Danel sat down on the back of Seiei's couch "That was surely a surprise".

Dante walked over to the vending machine "The Orb forces gave a spectacular retreat"

"It was sensible yeah, 28 units were no match for us really." Seiei pretended to shoot the ceiling with her finger.

Danel leaned over Seiei and smiled "Like Freedom at Jachin Due are we?"

"Or Infinite Justice at the battle of Messiah?" Li giggled as she spoke.

"I think we kind of are!" Seiei bolted up, knocking Danel to the floor. The red headed girl jumped onto the couch and thrust her fist into the air "The Untouchable Vindicators!" Seiei yelled.

"You sure are lively" Mwu walked into the room and laughed at the sight of Seiei and Danel.

"We were able to secure the Joint Chiefs' transport fleet, not to mention that we all have great combat records" Li stood up and put her helmet back on the table she was sitting at.

Mwu picked up a cup of coffee from the dispenser next to the vending Machine Dante was leaning against.

"You do, you do" nodded Mwu, "I just came to tell you that your units have been moved to Suez's Number 6 Hanger for a total overhaul." Mwu walked out the door leaving the 'Vindicators' all stumped.

"Overhaul, this soon after our assignment?" asked Dante as he looked at his fellow pilots.

"Is it really needed?" asked Danel who was resting his chin on the back of the couch.

"It all depends on whether or not Zaft becomes active in the war. The Gundams were primarily built for combat in space and urban warfare. They were not finely tuned for desert combat, the sandy conditions and the heat that goes with desert warfare could wreak havoc on the Gundams systems…" Li mused as he drew circles on her helmet with her finger.

"I suppose we should be grateful that they are taking the initiative" Seiei jumped back into a sitting position on the couch and patted Danel's head.

"It would suck to learn our units need the overhaul in mid battle" Danel rubbed his head into Seiei's hand, acting like a cat for amusement. The red headed Girl noticed Dante's blank distracted look. "Dante, what's wrong?"

"I was just thinking" the dark skinned boy sat on a stool next to the 'bar' "That course alteration… Li did you know anything about that?" the Chinese girl just shook her head. "A diversion to the Panama Cannel, doubling the time it took us to get to Suez. We didn't even do anything in Panama"

"Captain Ramius picked something up" Li spoke up.

"We picked something up?" Seiei blinked.

"In Panama?" Danel looked up.

"Mmhmm, we reached the Panama Cannel at 0324 hours, Captain Ramius took Shuttle 01 and headed to Area R53 and returned at 0400 hours" explained Li in a very quick manner.

"I wonder what she could have been up to" Seiei pondered.

* * *

Murrue walked through the halls of Suez, her heart was heavy with the secrets of her assignment. Orders classified beyond top secret, handed down to her from the Head of Operations at Omni HQ, Admiral Elias McDonald. Murrue gripped her suitcase tightly as she stepped into an elevator and headed down into the deepest, most secure areas of Suez. "Osiris" Murrue whispered. Shielded by lattice of Lightwave Barriers and Reinforced Titanium-B, Osiris was untouchable, not even Requiem could reach it.

Two heavy doors slid open revealing a ward room occupied by one man "Ah Captain Ramius" Admiral McDonald stood up and saluted.

"Admiral" Murrue's salute was crisp.

"The object you retrieved from Panama" McDonald's eyes fell on the case.

"Sir" Murrue walked forward, placed the case on the table and pushed it over towards McDonald.

"Excellent" the Admiral opened the cast and pulled out the small cylindrical case inside it. "Did you…"

"No sir" Murrue shook her head; she knew the value of orders like these.

"Good, I wanted to make sure you saw this with me" smiled McDonald as he plugged the cylinder into one of the monitors and started downloading the data.

"Sir" Murrue put a foot forward.

"Yes?"

"About the convoy…" Murrue looked down at her feet. "The joint chiefs, why did they leave Glasgow?" the Captain looked up at her superior.

"Glasgow has fallen" explained McDonald, not even turning to face Murrue.

"But, the bulk of Omni's Navy was docked there" Murrue could not believe it; Glasgow had the densest concentration of Omni forces on Earth. If it had fallen, then a truly evil power was on the move.

"Orb committed the bulk of its forces against us, it was an intense battle. Though we were able to evacuate the majority of our troops prior to the battle, the gap in our forces currently is too great" explained McDonald.

"Then Orb has began replacing their Astray suits with Murusame units" the Murusame was able to out perform Omni's backbone Suit the 02L2 Dagger in the atmosphere.

"That's right, and we lost most of our veteran pilots at Arzacheal in the last war, the new pilots don't have the experience to bring out the Windam's full potential." The footage from Onogoro replayed in Murrue's mind, pilots capable of fighting on par with Athrun's Justice. "Down load complete" The image was quickly displayed on the screen, Murrue's eyes widened in shock at who she saw. Murrue knew now that there was more to this war than meets the eye, forces that she had not been aware of were moving behind the scenes.

* * *

Whose moving behind the scenes? What has Murrue discovered? I thought I'd throw SOME sort of plot twist in for fun. Hopefully the next chapter won't take THIS long :S (Six Months!!)  
R&R. Please.  
If there is something you don't like about my writing style, feel free to leave a tip/suggestion in your review, or alternatively send me a Message.  
Because I write this for YOU guys.  
Thank you.


	5. Phase 5: Things

Hey guys. From 6 Months to 6 Days. Not a bad decrease! This one is a lot shorter because well, I didn't want to draw out the writing process. My writing Idol *Joe Micheal Strazinski* once said "A good story writes it self" and he could finish a good script/chapter in 2 weeks. I didnt want to drag this out and write something stupid.

Anyway, enjoy, this would kinda be something like a clip show if it was in the series.

**

* * *

March 14th  
Egypt  
Suez Cannel**

"Loren Team Mobile Suits are now in the Number 18 Hanger, they need desert warfare overhaul ASAP. They're 02 Daggers so use the right parts" an Omni technician yelled out across a small area of Suez. His mechanics quickly ran with the parts to seal the joints of the Loren Teams Dagger L units. Seiei and Li walked through the scurrying technicians, their pink uniforms top buttons undone to stave off the heat.

"Man, this weather is diabolical" sighed Seiei as she sipped her ice tea.

"It can't be helped, we're in the desert and all" smiled Li cocking her head. "At least the humidity isn't too bad" Li smiled again.

"I suppose" Seiei slumped over a bit and continued walking.

"Seiei, shall we sit over there?" Li pointed to a plot of grass next to the common area.

"Ok" Seiei nodded as they changed course and sat down next to the common area and the recreation building. "Ah grass" smiled Seiei as she fell onto her back, kicking her legs up into the air and then letting them flop onto the ground.

"It's a shame we don't have any on the Archangel, we have a hot pool, but no grass" Li ran her hands over the blades and smiled.

"All Technicians in Group Beta report to Landing Pad C, Special Envoy Suits will be arriving in thirteen minutes" the PA announced over the base.

"Special Envoy suits?" asked Seiei turning her head to Li.

"I heard about them, top line Mobile Suits… Shall we go see?"

"Um ok?" Seiei followed her fellow pilot off to Landing Pad C.

**

* * *

Mediterranean Ocean**  
**Balearic Sea near Gibraltar**

Mean while on the Orb Carrier Ikazuchi the Orb Military readied to receive their own Special Envoy Mobile Suits. The Ikazuchi was the successor to the Takamikazuchi as Orbs second Super Carrier. Colonel Soga stood on the deck of the ship and looked up at the ensemble of grey clouds. The Colonel checked his watch; the Special Envoy should be arriving any moment.

"Sir" a yeoman walked up to his side, hit hat almost blowing off in the wind as he saluted.

"Yes?" Soga saluted back.

"We just received word from the Hirata team regarding the attack on the Omni convoy"

"Yes?" Soga turned to face the yeoman, giving him his full attention.

"They were successful in destroying three Mobile Suit Carriers, but were forced to with draw when the Archangel attacked"

"The Archangel, Captain Ramius then…" a whistling noise could be heard from afar, Soga looked forward and saw the Special Envoy units break through the clouds. One by one the Special Envoy units approached, Cerulean approached by air in its Mobile Armour form. Skimming the water line Cerulean banked up skyward as it approached the Ikazuchi, Cerulean transformed when it reached the apex of its ascent and landed on the deck in it Mobile Suit mode, its phase shift armour colouring its white, cobalt and pale blue. The next unit came down from the sky, having been riding on Cerulean's back, Viridian was coloured in its Green white and Lime armour. Finally was dropped off by a new mass produced Mobile Suit model. Six of the new Mobile Suit models landed on the deck along with the three Gundams.

"MBF 03 Stingray" one of the officers spoke up as the nine units cockpits opened and the pilots rode their cables to the deck.

"Lieutenant Jasper Black, Cerulean's pilot reporting as ordered"

"Lieutenant Junior Grade Cruz Steiner, Scarlet's pilot"

"Lieutenant Junior Grade Seifer Pynx, Viridian's pilot" one by one the three pilots introduced themselves.

"I am Colonel Soga Captain of the Ikazuchi, if you'd come this way" Soga turned and walked back towards the main control tower of the Ikazuchi, the platforms which the 9 units stood on descended down into the body of the Ikazuchi.

**

* * *

Egypt  
Suez Cannel**

"Wow that's…" Seiei stood on her tip toes and looked over the crowd of technicians assembled at Landing Pad C. The VTOL Transport Plane opened its Mobile Suit hanger and four Mobile Suits marched out.

"GAT X1022 Blu Duel" Li looked at the short Mobile Suit march out of the plane.

"X1022? But I thought Blu Duel was destroyed in the last war" Seiei blinked.

"They created a few X1022 units, I think there were six. Seiei look!" Li pointed to the unit exiting behind Blu Duel. "An Apostle Dagger" whispered Li.

"Apostle Dagger?" asked Seiei, still confused.

"Jeez don't you read any of the reports I give you?" Li grumpily sighed.

"Sorry, but I never get past the 4th page" laughed Seiei.

"Ugh" Li shook her head and turned back to the Apostle Dagger. The unit was very similar to Blu Duel, the only differences were a Strike Dagger head, the rail gun was built into the right shoulder, the shield was smaller and attached to the left arm.

"Anyway, the Joint Chiefs of Staff are trialling 3 new Mobile Suit Models for Mass Production, the Apostle Dagger, the Æsir and the Hoplite" Li looked over at the Apostle as it walked over to the number 22 Hanger "If the Apostle Dagger is here, then Hoplite and Æsir must be on the front lines"

"You sure know a lot Li" smiled Seiei patting her on the back. "I'm heading back to the Archangel, I'll catch you later"

**

* * *

March 23rd  
Orb Union  
Onogoro Island**

Shinn Asuka walked out of the Onogoro military base and into the Orb sunlight. It had been a while since he had seen the Orb sun. His instructions were still fresh in his mind, he was given the task of finding all information on the Three Black Windam units that attacked Onogoro, whether it favoured Orb or the Alliance didn't matter.

"Shinn Asuka" an Orb officer saluted Shinn as the raven haired boy approached him in the car park.

"Yes" Shinn nodded begrudgingly.

"We have prepared this car for you to use while the Eternal is being resupplied"

"Thank you" Shinn took the keys and papers from the officer and threw his duffle bag in the car.

"Sir..." the Orb officer handed Shinn another set of papers. "These are you hotel documents" Shinn snatched the papers off the officer and looked over it.

"Thank you" the Officer saluted Shinn and then walked back into the Head Quarters. "Ugh" Shinn opened the front door to the car and slipped in. "Four days for resupply, just my luck" Shinn slammed his foot on the peddle and drove out of the base.

* * *

Looks like things are starting to heat up! Orb has deployed its new 'Gundam' type Mobile Suits. Omni is getting ready to start replenishing its Mobile Suit Force with new models. Will it be the Apostle, Hoplite or the Æsir?  
And Shinn is once again back in Orb, what's gonna happen this time?  
R&R please!


	6. Phase 6: Leaving his past behind?

Carrying on from the events of the last chapter, this one focus's a bit more on Shinn and the Orb pilots, hell, Seiei and her Omni buddies aren't even mentioned by name. This is because Shinn is going to be almost a main Character, to make up for his sidelining in Destiny from episode 22 onward

* * *

**March 23rd****  
Orb Union  
****Southern Coast of Orb's Main Island  
**

*slam* Shinn shut the door to the taxi. The raven haired boy looked out at the water damaged house in front of him on Orbs southern coast. Shinn took off his black sun glasses and eyes up the house with a sigh. His feet dragged ever so gently as he walked up towards the front gate, which broke off its rusting hinges. The moulding gate broke into fragments as it hit the ground.

"Sorry…" Shinn whispered as he stepped over the gate and continued up the path to the house. It was a modest two story villa, white stucco walls and a red clay tile roof. The front door of the house withstood the test of time a lot better than the front gate. Shinn looked around the garden, the flowers had all died, from salt water had killed them, or the waved after break the world. With no great force Shinn pushed the front door open, it ground the rust on its hinges as it slowly swung open. His red eyes scooped out the entrance way, hall and stairs. With a heavy heart Shinn fought back tears "I'…I'm home"

"_Welcome back love_" Shinn's mothers voice ran out, instantly Shinn felt a change, the mould on the walls was gone, their baby pink colour had returned, the broken pictures that scattered the floor were proudly mounted on the walls again. Shinn tried to use the carpet to remove his shoes, only to pull a tear out of it, his illusions vanished instantly "Gone…" he sighed. Shinn walked up the stairs, his foot sliding straight through one step.

"_Oh be careful Shinn, I'll fix that step this weekend_" Mr. Asuka's voice called out to Shinn softly.

"You never did; old man" chuckled Shinn as he climbed the rest of the stairs and reached the landing. The mould had yet to each up the stairs. Shinn pushed Mayu's door open ever so gently "Mayu…" Shinn almost whispered.

"_What is it Shinn?_" asked Mayu, rolling over on her bed and smiling at her brother. Her voice was as sweet to Shinn as when she was still alive.

"Oh nothing" Shinn walked into the room and looked around. Images of his family's harrowing accident on Onogoro flashed into his mind. Shinn couldn't help but think of the last war, he fought so hard, in so many battles, all for peace and now it seemed it was all in vain.

"_Do you intend to destroy the future too? Destroying everything like this, and even killing the future! Is this the world you desired? The power you desired_?" Athrun's words were living in Shinn's mind, causing tears to form in the corners of the pale boy's eyes.

"_Shinn what's the matter_?" Mayu got off her bed and wrapped her arms around Shinn. "_What ever it is, I'm sure it'll be o-_" Shinn twitched and the ghost turned to vapour.

"It's nothing Mayu. I'm just returning this" Shinn placed his sisters pink cell phone on the desk and left the room whispering "I don't need it anymore…thank you for lending it to me". Shinn walked across the hall to his room, it was the darkest in the house so it was still partially damp. "I wonder" Shinn reached under his bead and pulled out a black, grey and red box. He opened the latch and removed the cob webs. The contents made Shinn smile, keepsakes, happy memories and photos. Shinn closed the box and headed down stairs, he saw his family gathered by the door. "I'm going now…" Shinn bowed and waited for a second, he kept his gaze fixed at the floor.

"_Good bye Shinn_" smiled his family.

"Thanks" Shinn put his glasses back on and left the house and went into the light. "Huh" Shinn looked over the top of his glasses to see a boy standing by a black sports car.

"It's been a while Shinn" the boy took his black visor and tucked it into the top of his dark grey jacket.

"It has Athrun… Zala" Shinn stepped forward.

* * *

Athrun's car zipped along the coastal motorway with Shinn in the passenger seat.

"How did you know where to find me?" asked Shinn, looking out over the ocean. Shinn's arm rested on the side of the car, propping up his chin.

"I heard you came in on the Eternal" Athrun replied with a smile.

"Looks like Cagalli has taught you how to evade questions like an Athha" Shinn snipped.

"Oh really?" Athrun replied with a smile. "Naturally we have had you under observation… along with the rest of the Eternal crew who disembarked"

"So why did you come here?"

"I wanted to…talk to you again Shinn" replied Athrun "When Lacus told me the Eternal was coming in, and told me its mission, I have to admit, you are the last person I thought would be carrying it out" chuckled Athrun.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Shinn looking at Athrun out of the corner of his eye.

"I never thought I would see you again, at least, not in Orb" Athrun smiled as they pulled up to a look out, it over looked the Orb War Memorial. Shinn got out of Athrun's car and walked to the edge of the look out, the hood of his thin light beige jumper blew up in the wind, and his hands firmly dug in his grey skinny jeans. "Shinn," Athrun got out of the car and walked to Shinn's slide, keeping a few metres away "why did you take up this assignment?"

"So you don't have all the answers" the dark haired boy smirked.

"Shinn?" Athrun came closer to the other boy.

"I was just thinking, back in the last war," Athrun winced "when I was fighting against you, Kira, Ms. Lacus and Representative Athha. You guys seemed to have all the answers." Shinn began to breathe heavily.

"Oh?"

"I fought so hard for what I believed was right, I thought what I was doing what was necessary" explained Shinn.

"What are you saying?" asked Athrun.

"You guys defeated me, the one who beat Freedom" Shinn's anger started to build up. "How!? WHY?" Shinn demanded "If you guy's don't have the answers, then how did you beat me?" Shinn spun around and snapped.

"You were blinded by rage, fighting for the past, not moving forward…" Athrun leaned on the rail overlooking the memorial.

"You guys… You really are something" Laughed Shinn.

"Shinn… If you want to be as strong as us, find something worth fighting for, fight on your own accord, and fight for the future you desire" Athrun looked at the young boy as the sun slowly began to set.

"Heh, is that an order? Commander Zala" smirked Shinn.

* * *

Shinn returned to the Eternal walked back to his quarters with his keep sake box tucked under arm, his conversation with Athrun playing over and over in his head. Shinn walked though a four way junction on the Eternal when someone called out his name.

"Shinn Asuka" Shinn turned around to look at the one who had called his name.

"Yes Yzak?"

"I thought you were staying at the Sun Coast Hotel" Yzak walked up to Shinn.

"I was but…" Shinn looked at the platinum blond.

"I understand, this country…its not…for you is it" Yzak looked at the black box. "That is?"

"Oh this" Shinn tucked it further under his arm. "It's personal, if you'll excuse me" Shinn continued down the hall to his quarters.

"Hmph" Yzak pulled his jacket straight. The white coat officer walked down the hall and off the Eternal. As he reached the end of the gangway he was met by a familiar sight. With a crisp salute he spoke out "Admiral Zala"

"Admiral Jule" replied Athrun.

* * *

The Ikazuchi continued its patrols along the Mediterranean, the carrier and its escorts evaded Omni ships around Sicily and the Italian Peninsula. A bridge officer walked over to Colonel Soga and handed him a status report. The Colonel was standing around the tactical display table along side Klaus and his squadron.

"That is the 35th Spengler Class Carrier we have tagged" Soga read the report and added the data onto the Tactical Table.

"With that number of Carriers, a frontal assault on Suez, even from two fronts would be bloody" Seifer looked over the data on the table.

"It doesn't matter" Klaus interrupted.

"Hmm?" Soga looked up at the three young pilots.

"Klaus is right" Cruz spoke up. "Omni has 4 X1 Destroy units stationed there, we would need to destroy them before we could send the main fleet" explained the orange haired boy.

"The Butcher or Berlin" Soga sighed.

"That's right; we need to formulate an attack plan. My squadron is the best bet for destroying those machines" explained Klaus.

"Unless there has been a significant upgrade in their systems, the X1's Positron Reflector should still operate on the frequency we developed" Cruz stroked his chin.

"Any word of the Sanada?" asked Seifer.

"The Sanada's Aerospace wings have not yet been completed" Soga tucked the status report under his arm.

"Hmmm, we need a Positron Cannon or Multi Phase Cannon, that's the only way to break through their reflectors" Cruz strummed his fingers on the table. "Colonel Soga, could you please put me through to the Nation Defence Head Quarters?"

* * *

"It seems the only times we ever see each other is when another war is about to break out" Athrun gave a small smile as he read over the menu.

"It seems so" Yzak flipped through the menu, trying to find something to his tastes. A waiter came over and took the pair's orders, a steal for Yzak and a chicken salad for Athrun.

"Yzak, I want to ask you something, not as a friend, or a fellow coordinator, but soldier to soldier" Athrun suddenly dropped his usual friendly persona and was steal serious, like he been when Nicol was killed.

"Hm?" Yzak looked over at Athrun, his eyes barely reaching over the menu; he was still looking over the dessert menu.

"Zaft, what will they be joining in the war?"

Yzak folded up his menu and placed it down. "Athrun, Zaft and the Supreme Council want to avoid a third war with Earth. That is why the Eternal has been dispatched to Earth" Yzak folded his hands and placed them on his menu.

"But Zaft has been conducting Orbital Drops, sending troops to Gibraltar and Carpentaria. You have even commissioned the 2 new Minerva Class, and set up a base in South America"

"Tsh, you're always sticking your nose in aren't you Athrun" smirked Yzak.

"What are all these preparations for if Zaft isn't going to get involved in the war then Yzak?" asked Athrun sternly. A waiter came over and poured the two a glass of wine.

"Precautions" Yzak lifted his glass up as the waiter left.

"Precautions?" asked Athrun, raising an eye brow.

"Things are afoot Athrun, things that are larger than the Onogoro incident" Yzak looked his old comrade in the eyes, sternly.

"What things?" asked Athrun picking his glass up and taking a sip.

"We are not sure at the moment, but we have had strange reports…about Commander Le Creuset"

"The Commander!?" Athrun stood up bumping the table, almost spilling his wine.

"Yes…I cannot go into details, its classified" Yzak shook his head as the blue haired boy sat back down.

"Is that why the Eternal is here?"

"On Earth? Partially, we are here to retrieve data regarding the Onogoro incident, to see if it is related to the reports about Commander Le Creuset" Yzak sipped his whine and sighed.

"You think the Alliance is part of something bigger? Damn them" Athrun gripped the stem of his glass.

"Not the Alliance…Blue Cosmos"

"Aren't they the same? Even though Djibril is gone, they struck out at Orb, things haven't changed" Athrun muttered

"Heh, who would have though" chuckled Yzak. "You saying that, and me being an advocate of their innocents" Yzak let out a few more chuckles.

"Yzak..heh" Athrun began go chuckle as well, before their meals arrived the atmosphere returned to its cordial state.

* * *

As my betareader(ish) pointed out, I got Shinn's attitude problem pretty much down pact, but Yzak's was a bit hard, as I am trying to show him growing up, and he's gotten wiser. Also Athrun got a bit of an attitude problem because one of my goals with this story is to make him, Kira, and Lacus a bit more flawed than they are at the end of Destiny.

Well there we go, Shinn's moving on from his Destiny Motivation and leaving that past behind him. Whats this new information Yzak has about things? Something is DEFINITLY AFOOT if Zaft is assigning two of its 3 top aces to it! (I'm trying to not make this another generic Omni Vs Zaft Vs Orb Mobile Suit Shit Storm, so a new power will be entering the fray soon!

R&R please!


	7. Phase 7: Moving Out

hey its the Author here! Another Chapter fro GSR! Its another Character Developing one! Action comes NEXT week lol

* * *

**March 25th****  
Egypt  
****Nile Side Shopping Plaza  
**  
An Ibis bird poked its beak into the mud at the bottom of a water feature in the middle of a shopping mall near by the Suez Base. It moved its beak around trying to find a Sand Skipper.

"Oh an Ibis" Seiei stopped in her tracks and looked over at the bird.

Li bumped into Seiei's back and dropped her shopping back, "Ugh" a black garment fell out and rolled onto the floor. "Ek!" Li quickly scooped the dress back up into her bag and sighed, leaving her fellow pilots to just look at her blankly. "Well are we going to just waist our day off staring at me? Or are we going to do something?" Li brushed past Dante and Danel as she walked off towards the food court.

"Hey Li wait up!" the young pilots followed after them, a blonde haired man noticed them running by and smirked. The young pilots all assembled on a chair in the food court and ordered a variety of drinks.

"It has been far too long since we got OUT SIDE" Seiei stretched out in her chair and yawned.

"What are you talking about? We can go onto the deck pretty much any time we want" sighed Dante as he sipped his strawberry thick shake.

"Dante, I think Seiei was meaning out side of the military complex" giggled Li.

"EXACTLY!" Seiei laughed pointing at Li.

"I think Seiei had been building up tension ever since we left port at Glasgow" Danel whispered into Dante's ear.

"Probably" sighed Dante.  
*Bleep*  
*Bleep*  
*Bleep*

The three pilots all reached for their communicators. Slightly larger than a cell phone the communicator had a broad screen, Li was the first to pull hers out. "Lt. Quan, are Lt. Kofun, Lt. Gaius and Lt. Winder with you?" asked the operator on the other end.

"Yes ma'am" nodded Li.

"All G3 Pilots of the Bandit Squadron are to return to the Suez Base board the LCAM-01XA Archangel for departure at 110 tomorrow. Do all parties acknowledge and receive these orders?"

"Lt. Quan receives and acknowledges the orders to return to the 01XA Archangel for departure at 1100 hours tomorrow" one by one the other pilots acknowledged the orders into Li's com.

"I don't see why they have to tell us we have to be aboard the Archangel tomorrow, heh, it's our ship! We sleep on the damn thing" sighed Seiei in frustration.

"It's the Natural way" chuckled Dante as he finished off his milkshake "…present company excluded" Dante looked sideways at Danel and Li, noticing their annoyed glares.

* * *

**March 26th****  
Suez  
****Canal  
**

The Archangel cruised out of its dock, the waves lapped against the side of its hull as the ship moved out into the canal. Danel stood on the deck of the Archangel; he stood above the main hanger bay, letting the wind blow his hair. The blue and black haired boy had decided to watch the Archangel depart from the deck, to get a view of Omni's arsenal. Danel ran his finger along the railing, drawing a line in the fine sand layer that had formed.

"Danel, are you sure you want to go back?" Danel heard a mature woman's voice echoing in his mind. Danel slowly drifted back to that day…8 months ago.

_Danel sat on a white sand beach the trees swayed in the gentle breeze. Danel's immediate family sat around a picnic blanket with the blue and black haired boy, his mother Meinita, his father Calvin, and his brother Kees._

_"Danel, are you sure you want to go back?" asked Meinita as she picked up a small sandwich and took a bite._

_"Mum, the Omni Enforcer lost most of its forces in the last war. Right now they could fall prey to attacks from a coalition of the minor powers" replied Danel, his hand resting on his bent knee, the other leg and hand were stretched out on the sand._

_"I think only Zaft and the Orb Military could actually cause the Enforcer any real trouble" Danel's older brother sipped on his soda and looked at his little brother._

_"The Alliance is still unstable, the member states are being held together by fear" Danel sighed and drew a line in the sand with his finger._

_Danel's mother looked at her son caringly "Fear?"_

_"What does the Alliance have to fear? Zaft and Orb are ruled by people who want peace more than anything" Calvin opened another soda and took a sip._

_"It's not really those nations that the Alliance has to worry about Dad. It's more the nations that make up the Alliance" Danel looked at a seagull skimming the water. "We lost over 60% of our land forces during the Second War and over 80% of our space forces." The seagull dived into the water and brought up a fish "If the Alliance can't protect its member states, they will look else where for protection, rifts will form in the Alliance, and we risk a civil war." Another seagull pulled the fish out of the others mouth._

_"What difference can you make?" Kees laughed._

_"No offense little bud, you're only one person, one pilot." Danel's Dad looked his son in the eyes lovingly._

_"In the past, Omni relied heavily on its advanced Mobile Suits and its sheer numbers to overwhelm our enemies."_

_"Like their X1 unit" Meinita spoke up again._

_Danel smiled, his mother understood "But at Heavens Base and Daedalus our philosophy of power and numbers was proved to be insufficient. Zaft's ace pilots were able to turn the tide of battle by themselves," Danel stood up and closed his eyes, smiling into the setting sun. "So Omni and the Alliance need its ace pilots, for with the right Mobile Suits, we may be able to turn the tides of battle, rally the Alliance around us" Danel turned to his family and smiled._

_"You've been watching one to many TV programs little bud" laughed Calvin._

_"Delusions of Grandeur I say" Kees laughed._

_"Or the G3 Data" Meinita smiled. "You caught a look at it didn't you" Meinita asked, knowing the answer all along._

Another voice bought Danel back to reality

"Danel" Dante walked onto the deck behind Danel.

"Oh Dante, what is it?" Danel turned around, tucking his black and blue hair behind one ear. Dante's eye brow twitched.

"The Captain wants to see us in the briefing room"

"Oh?" Danel walked across the deck to Dante's side, the two headed back inside the ship and walked the halls towards the briefing room. "Do you know what this is about?"

"Not exactly"

"What does that mean?" Danel turned around and began walking backwards next to Dante.

"I heard Li talking to someone on the Com system last night; she said something about the R&D base in the Oceanic Union" Dante flashed Danel a questioning gaze.

"What would R&D be doing talking to Li?" Danel asked himself, placing his hands on his head and sighing.

"I never said the two were related, it's just-"

"Warrior's intuition?" smiled Danel devilishly "Or did a spirit tell you? You seriously don't believe in that do you? See this is what we call-" Danel tripped over one of the knee high corridor cleaning robots and fell to the ground with a thud.

With a conceited smirk Dante squatted next to Danel who was all tangled up on the floor "I believe the word you were looking for was….Karma?"

"UGH" Danel got up slowly and straightened his blue uniform "Hey when are we going to get those new uniforms Seiei said the Admiral promised us?" Danel started to walk off with Dante.

* * *

Danel and Dante walked into the briefing room, their comrades sombre expressions stuck out like a sore thumb.

"What's the matter guys, you guys look like someone just ate your cat" Danel joked awkwardly as he and Dante took their seats.

"Danel, it's about the MIRANDA base your mother is head of" Mwu looked down at the podium he was standing at, Danel on the other hand shot up from his seat and went quite pale.

"What about it? What happened to Hell's Gate!?"

Seiei leaned over and put her hand on Danel's shoulder "D let him finish." Danel looked into the girls eyes, their purple glow calmed his nerves enough to sit back down and let Mwu continue.

*Ahem*"As you know, the MIlitary Research ANd Development Agency, commonly known as Miranda has one of their primary research facilities located in the Oceanic Union, specifically the Northern Island of New Zealand. The base is located in the Rotorua region of the Island, making it inaccessible by ocean going vessels"

"Yes, yes, yes we know" Danel strummed his fingers on his table.

"At 0400 hours yesterday morning, Miranda's long range sensors detected an Orb Battle Group approaching, we dispatched 3 of our Spengler Mobile Suit Carriers at 0600 yesterday, how ever we lost contact with Hell's Gate at 2100 hours last night. We have been dispatched to link up with the 3 Spenglers, take aboard their best pilots, investigate the loss in communication and reinforce Hell's Gate until relief ships arrive" explained Mwu. "At our top speed we will arrive in 9 hours. The Tech crews are standing by, get to your units and prep them for combat" ordered Mwu.

"Commander, will you be launching as well?" asked Dante looked up at the Commander.

"No, I will be taking command of the CIC since we are short a CIC operator" explained Mwu, the blond haired man picked his hat off the podium and placed it on his head. "Dismissed"

* * *

Early the next morning the pilots sat in the cockpit of their Gundams, going over line and line of code in their OS, checking the power specification and system out puts in regard to every aspect of their units. Danel sat testing his unit's ability to change between the Ringo Cannon's firing modes when Seiei's head popped in the opening of the cockpit.

"Danel, are you ok?" she asked in a motherly tone.

"hm?" Danel kept switching the cannon between its modes until he would remember the exact amount of time before he could fire without overloading the chamber.

"I was thinking…" Seiei sat in the inside and linked her arms.

The Interface Console of Scout folded back into the floor and the monitor folded back up into the ceiling. "This is gonna be good" he smiled.

"Haha, fuck you too," laughed Seiei playfully. "But seriously… I have decided to take you off the sortie roster" Seiei quickly scrambled out of Scout's cockpit and 'walked briskly' off the gangway.

"HEY!" Danel scurried out and darted after her. "What do you mean 'taken off the Sortie Roster?" Danel asked as he dashed in front of her and blocked her escape from the gangway.

"Danel, right now your emotional state could compromise your judgement. Ensign Todd will be transferring aboard when we rendezvous with the other ships. Li says has a good working of the Launcher Striker Pack" argued Seiei.

"You're replacing me with a Launcher Striker? That thing is about as subtle as a bull in a china store!" Danel got rather caught up in his emotions as he argued with his Squadron Leader.

"She will be using the Commander's StrikeR with Launcher equipped" reasoned Seiei.

"That's not the point" Danel began to grind his teeth. "Scout's Ringo Cannon is capable of hitting targets at 3x the range of Launcher; it can fire in quicker succession and has a higher focus point!" Danel argued back.

"Look, I voiced my concerns to Commander La Flaga, Li backed me up and Murrue made the final call. I'm sorry it's been done at the highest level" Seiei apologised sincerely to Danel, in reality, she would have loved to have the boys agile Gundam covering her movements from a fair. Seiei walked off to her Gundam, leaving Danel to stand on the gang way, technicians being wary of him as they passed before he quietly left the Hanger Bay for his quarters.

* * *

Hey. Ok Danel came out looking a little more like a spoiled brat than I was intending, the aim of that was to try and show him being frustrated that he wasnt able to launch and protect his mother. Well I tried writing it 4x and it always sounded stupid. His anger isnt because he wants to fight or is better than anyone, its because as noted in the flash back, he thinks Omni needs all its top guns in the field, and since he's piloting one of the more advanced Omni Mobile Suits, I think he classes as an Ace!  
But well, as for the rest of the chapter. I struggled with the communicator but, didnt want a Star Trek one, or a Babylon 5 Link. I'm going to be devoting the occasional chapter to more or less developing each of the "Bandits" every now and again because you havent really met them before.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Thanks for reading! Please Review!


	8. Phase 8: Hell's Gate

HAHA This Chapter has been sitting on my PC for ages, so I finally thought I'd upload it!

* * *

A large white cloud hovered gently in the sky above Hell's Gate. The cloud's puffy edges touched the sky delicately, until a particle beam tore through it and hit a Jet Dagger L on the other side. The battle for Miranda's Hell's Gate Base was in full swing, Orb had committed some of their best pilots and a large number of their new model Mobile Suits to the attack. The Archangel arrived at the battle site. The two sides fought heavily, Hell's Gate's defence forces consisted mostly of Dagger L and Dagger 105s using Aile and Jet Striker Packs to defend the sky, while Dagger 105s with the Launcher Striker Packs defended the base.

"Miriallia put me through to Hell's Gate's Commanding Officer" ordered Murrue. Moments later the face of an Omni scientist appeared on the main screen.

"Captain Ramius" The man nodded "I am glad you arrived in time" he smiled.

"Not a problem, we are launching our Mobile Suits now," Murrue extended her left arm so Mwu could see it, he discreetly issued the sortie orders to Seiei and her squadron "If you will transfer jurisdiction of your defence forces to our CIC we will coordinate our combine attacks" ordered Murrue.

"Understood, transferring Communication Protocols and Jurisdiction to your CIC" the commander pressed a few keys on his end.

"Received. Ok Seiei there is a dense area of bush to the north west of Lake Rotorua, we need you to clear a beach head for us and you might as well do it there" ordered Mwu

"Ok people you heard the Commander" Seiei closed her visor "Let's do it!" Seiei's Gundam was dropped into the catapult.

"APU online" Murdock called out over the intercom around the hanger. "Contact with the catapult confirmed" Seiei went through her final pre-launch checks "GAT X111 Defender can go and launch"

"Roger that, Seiei Kofun, Defender heading out!" the grey Gundam took off and its twin multiphase cannons slotted up into their firing positions. The other Gundams formed up on Seiei, Ensign Todd's StrikeR also formed up.

"Lieutenant Kofun, your training did not cover geothermal terrain…watch your back" ordered Mwu.

"Understood sir!" nodded Seiei as Defender and the others made land fall. Within seconds of them landing, two Astray units jumped from behind a geothermal steam vent and tried to slash Defender with their beam sabers.

"En guard!" Dante dashed in front and blocked the attacks with his Anti Ship Beam Sword. Titan came upon the enemy suits and unleashed a volley of its chest mounted gatling gun, the pellets ripped through one of the suits, causing it to fall to the ground lifeless. "HMPH!" Dante forced the Astray out of the deadlock, he spun Marauder around and shot through the units cockpit with his beam pistol.

"Above you!" Li's voice came over Seiei and Todd's speakers as two Murusame did a booming run.

"Gamzatov Multiphase cannons, full dispersion!" the backpack mounted Multiphase cannons fired a fan like beam, the energy was not concentrated enough to damage the Murusame, but enough to cause the missiles to explode. "Todd," Seiei turned around, "the Murusame, take em down!"

"R-right" Lifting the High Impulse Cannon into place, Todd waited for the targeting reticule to lock onto the agile fighters. 1 second, 3 seconds, 6 seconds passed before Todd had a lock.

"No…he can't be" Seiei blinked in disbelief.

"Using the targeting computer" Danel sighed from the Pilots Lounge on the Archangel. "Oh shit…" Danel couldn't watch the screen anymore.

"TSH!" Seiei raised her wrists and began firing her wrist mounted lasers; they were built in Dagger L pistols so it took a few shots before Seiei could destroy them. "Todd, listen up, I want you to disable Launchers targeting computer." ordered Seiei.

"But-"

"Go manual; we can't afford the lock on time. And for God's sake, use the Vulcan Guns in your shoulder pod if were facing Murusame" Seiei sighed as she looked over the battle field. The red head scanned the area in front of her Mobile Suit for allied units. "No friendly suits detected in the Line of Fine" her Gamzatov Multiphase cannons slipped up along her back, and then locked over onto her shoulders. A fan like firing arc appeared on a small screen, "Clearing beach head!" Defender's Gamzatov and Scylla cannons fired into one large stream of energy that slowly cleared away the trees as Seiei arced around. The heavy beam faded and the Gamzatov cannons slid back into their places. "Engaging power rebuild, time remaining 1.20 minutes"

"This is Titan, beach head created. Moving to secure!" The yellow mobile suit extended its right arm, the larger 'Right Arm of Atlas' locked over it, the second and third knuckles separated and a Schlag high energy beam cannon similar to the one used in Calamity moved out. Li fired six shots into the dense bush, another Astray exploded and several mines also exploded. "Beach head secure!" Li communicated the situation to Mwu.

"Roger that, sending in VTOL" three Vertical Take Off and Landing transports moved in and landed in the beach head area. Omni's additional Dagger L units armed with a Doppelhorn and Sword Striker Packs moved out of the transports.

"Bandit squadron will now move ahead to secure Hell's Gate!" rallied Seiei as her squadron moved out.

* * *

"They are able to hold off our forces?" Cagalli stopped along her walk and turned to the aid that had just bought her the news.

"Yes, it appears the Archangel and the Alliance's new Mobile Suit Squadron has been deployed along with a number of carriers" explained the aid.

"Can we divert any more of our forces to aid in the attack?" asked Cagalli as she began to head to the National Defence Head Quarters.

"The Inari and a Ninigi are 4 hours away" explained the aid as he looked over his datapad.

"What about the Sanada?" asked Cagalli as she stopped in her tracks. The blonde looked at the towering radar dome of the National Defence Head Quarters. "Her Aerospace wings, are they operational?"

"Ugh," he quickly checked on his pad "yes ma'am, the Sanada's wings are active, though the majority of her fire control systems are not"

"Damn" Cagalli bit her lower lip in frustration. "Have our troops with draw immediately, we will prepare for a second assault, redirect the Ninigi, Inari and the Sanada move to our staging point once they have resupplied" Cagalli began to walk into the NDHQ, she stopped one step from the door and turned to her aid "and make sure the Sanada's Positron Cannons are operational…" Cagalli entered the NDHQ with out another word.

* * *

Three Astray units fell around the Bandits, two exploded in violent orange balls while the other just shut down. The Bandits had claimed a high ridge near the base "Hmph, what a waste" sighed Seiei, her sirens then beeped as three Astray-Kai units came from below the ridge firing their beam carbines over and over.

"Scatter!" barked Seiei, her squadron jumped in different directions, Li's "Left Arm of Atlas" opened up its knuckles to reveal a Light Wave Barrier, the field was able to block the shots being fired at her suit.

"Phew" Li breathed out and looked to her sides to confirm her fellow pilots were ok, one of the three Kai units had gotten in close quarters with StrikeR on the edge of the ridge.

"Oh shit" Dante moved to help but was pinned down by fire from three Astray units hovering with their Shrike Packs.

"Ahhhh" Todd looked around for options, he had no where to go, he couldn't use his High Impulse Cannon at this range either, so he grabbed his Combat Knives and readied to fight.

"CAPTAIN! The Bandits are being pinned down by enemy Mobile Suits, StrikeR is in grave danger" Dallida read off his display.

"What? Oh no" Murrue looked pale "Get them support now!"

"Ma'am, the main Cargo Doors are opening…" The main doors at the front of the Archangel slowly opened, only ever used for loading large amounts of supplies at once. A blast of energy came through the doors as they opened, singeing the sides. The blast of energy went between StrikeR and the attacking Astray.

"What was that?" Seiei turned around in her Cockpit to check.

"At such a range…" Li squinted into the distance.

"Heh, you finally came" smirked Dante as Danel shot out of the main hanger doors on the Archangel and started cruising along the flat ground towards the Bandits position.

"RAH!" Todd lunged forward, stabbing one Combat Knife into the attacking Astray's Beam Carbine and the other was broken off by its shield.

"Tsh! Bastard!" the Kai pilot drew his sabre and slashed off Todd's arm carrying the Combat Knife.

"Shit" the white arm fell to the floor and slowly lost its phase shift colours.

"It's all over now!" smirked the pilot as he drew back his sword.

"TODD!" the compartment attached to Scout's left hip opened up to reveal a rail pistol, Danel drew it and fired three bolts, the three shots were dead on centre and tore apart the enemy Kai's chest section. Scout landed on the ridge next to Todd's suit, using its Ringo Cannon, Scout dispatched one Kai unit and forced the other to retreat.

"Danel…" the other Bandits quickly formed up on Danel's unit.

"Sorry for the wait, but I couldn't sit back and do nothing…" smiled Danel as he looked at each one of his friends Gundams.

"Understood" smiled Seiei, opening her visor to wipe away a tear. "Todd, your unit is damaged, return to the Archangel" ordered Seiei as she closed her visor again. "This is going to be hard, those Kai units were able to pin us down…is that the extent of the Kai's power…or was it the pilots own abilities…" Seiei lost her self in thought for a moment.

"Seiei look!" Danel pointed forward with his Gundam's hand, at the retreating Orb forces.

"They're pulling out…but they almost had us on the ropes" Li looked around at the Orb troops taking to the sky. Titan's pilot noticed a few streaks in the sky "Oh shit, Missiles incoming!" Li held up her Right Arm of Atlas and began firing her cannon at the missiles.

Danel checked through Scout's scope "Shit she's right!" Danel then opened up with repeated shots from his Ringo Cannon, Seiei and Dante joined in with their beam weapons, destroying a good number of the missiles heading for the base

* * *

A large amount of the missiles were shot down by the Archangel and her Gundams, but many more hit the MIRANDA facility, crippling it. Walls had collapsed in all over the base, a low cloud of smoke and dust lingered at waist level in nearly all the corridors. The Bandits walked through the halls with their flash lights trying to find survivors.

"If anyone alive in here?" Li called out, only to be met by her echo.

"We are from the Archangel of the 2nd Fleet" Seiei called out, shining her light down the corridor.

"Don't be too loud, you might cause a cave in" Dante walked past the two girls. Danel was right on the darker skinned boy's tail.

"Pft, what a snob" Seiei gripped her flash light and continued walking.

I hate doing it, but I went back and Retconned Chapter 5, Cerulean, Scarlet and Viridian are not 'Gundams' like the Alliance's four units, they are part of a Custom Unit program like the Knight of Rounds units from Code Geass R2. Stingrays were also renamed Astray-Kai units (Or Kais for short)

* * *

Semi rushed ending but I had no idea how to finish it right... well...hope you enjoyed it!


	9. Phase 9: After the Battle

Greetings, been a while since an update but I've been trying to figure out wherethis story is going... Still not to sure. Heres the next chapter.

* * *

Ash fell from the sky, slowly like snow flakes it fell to the ground. The battle was well and truly over, the Orb forces had retreated from their staging ground and headed off to one of their bases. The evacuation of the Miranda facility was going smoothly; VTOL craft were being loaded with computers, personnel and Prototype Mobile Suits. Back on the Archangel, the crew had an unsavoury matter to attend to.

Danel walked under guard from the elevator into one of the larger rooms on the archangel, usually a storage room it had been cleared for a military hearing of sorts. On one side sat Commander La Flaga, Mr Nueman and Dallida, on the other side sat Seiei, Li, and Lt Todd. Murrue tapped the wooden block next to her makeshift desk with a wooden mallet. "This inquiry into the actions of Ensign Danel D. Winder will now come to order" ordered Murrue with authority. "Ensign Danel D. Winder his inquiry is to assess your actions during engagement 76A-44d5."

Nueman, who was acting as Danel's legal counsel stood up at this moment' "Your honour, I would like to point out that in this instance, Lt. Winder's actions may have violated protocol, but saved the lives of his fellow squad mates and possibly this ship."

Mwu looked up with a smirk on his face "He has you there Murrue"

"I would remind the Commander that this is a formal hearing…" Murrue sighed and then returned her gaze to Nueman

"Your previous point is not in dispute" Murrue rebuffed him. "His removal from the sortie was an order made by his Flight Commander and approved by myselt. It was not his decision to make"

The rest of the Bandits looked around at one another uneasily. Murrue looked at Danel firmly, "Do you wish to enter your plea now?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Then how do you plead?"

Danel straightened his stature "Guilty on all counts ma'am"

"Very well then. Danel winder, you stand accused of violating multiple regulations. However, your actions in the battle did move to attain victory. Therefore the charges relating to the theft of the Mobile Suit Scout and engaging in combat will be suspended. Given the extenuating circumstances this war brings, Admiral McDonald, commander and chief of the Omni Enforcer has granted a provisional pardon to Danel Winder. However, the terms of this pardon must be known to the defendant." Murrue picked up a datapad and read it aloud "A provisional Pardon is here by granted to Danel D. Winder. It is granted on the grounds that as a Gundam Pilot he acts as a symbol of hope for the alliance personnel. This pardon will become null and void if Danel Winder violated any further regulations within the 3 month period stipulated in the Provisional Pardon Section of the Omni Enforcer Charter Paragraph 12 subsection 4." read Murrue. Sighs of relief were heard around the court. "However, the Commander and Chief did approve a preventative punishment; Danel Winder will receive half rations for 7 Days and will report to Maintenance to assist in repairs to the Hanger Door." Murrue picked up her mallet "This session of the Archangel Tribunal is adjourned." she hit the wooden block.

* * *

Yzak and the Eternal's crew had finished their preparations for departure, Athrun had arranged for better supplies to be loaded up onto the Eternal so her crew were in high spirits, the pink vessel even had an honour guard, the Parliament House Murusame guard flew alongside in a double diamond formation.

"Sir, all ships functions nominal" explained one of the ships officers.

"Good. Ops, what's the weather situation like?" asked Yzak.

"Wind speed:22 kph, cloud cover 34%... Atmospheric within operational limits"

Yzak let out a stretch and then tapped the intercom. "All hands, the Eternal is currently heading for the old Capital of the Atlantic Federation, Washington DC. Earth forces activity is minimal there due to the devastation suffered during Break The World and the second war, giving the area the name "the Capital Wasteland" explained Yzak.

"how do they do it..." asked a young female officer.

"Destroy so much? I have no idea El. The Naturals sure are something" sighed the weapons officer.

"No not that, I mean, how do they live not knowing what the weather will be like..." sighed El, a girl who had been spoiled by the PLANTs weather control system. El returned to her duties with another sigh. The Capital Wasteland soon came into view on the enlarged monitor. "We aren't getting many major power signatures... A few settlements but nothing major" explained El.

"Captain" Shinn's face appeared on the main monitor. "Destiny is fuelled and ready to go."

"Good. Remember your orders Shinn. We will meet you at the rendezvous in 3 days." agreed Yzak as he used his console to open the hanger doors. Within moments Destiny flew out, its Wings of Light made the sky glow pink as it entered the clouds.

"Avoid getting involved in any combat between the Earth or Orb forces" Shinn recited his orders "Kinda hard if they want to use me for target practice" sighed Shinn, disheartened as he switched on the Automatic Pilot and let go of the handles. Shinn reached behind his head rest and pulled out the book he had stuffed there prior to take off. The old tattered leather bound book from nearly 22 years ago, the book was the personal project diary of Ulen Hibiki, heavily documented notes on the cloning process.

'When replicating the Telomeres for a cloned body I encounter the same problem every time. The Sorla Blone System I have been using to replicate the tissue does not seem able to support the cohesion of full length telomeres, the genetic strands collapse just after the 122nd stage. Unable to create full length strands will cause rapid aging in the clones and extreme pain, both of which can be regulated with the use of the compound Gaza 35b...this is however a stop gap measure." Shinn read off the page before sighing. He removed his helmet and wiped his brow, reading during flight made him queasy. Shinn noticed a flashing alert on his hud, the coordinator opened the message. "The Omni base at XiaPi is under attack from the Orb forces?" Shinn read out in mild disbelief.

* * *

It was true, Orbs 3rd Fleet under the Carrier Ikari was assaulting the Omni MS production facility at Xia Pi. The Murusame and Astray Kai units were tearing through the Dagger L lines and blasting apart the warehouses.

"Damn Island hiks" one of the squad captains in a Windam cursed the Orb soldiers as his units beam sabre sliced through an astray.

"No point in resisting!" Klaus' Cerulean flew towards the Windam in its fighter mode; it quickly changed into Mobile Suit Form and slashed the Windam in half at the hip.

* * *

The battle was effectively won by Orb within mere hours, the bases mobile suit defence force was shattered though many units were able to escape on Spengler Class Carriers. Orb soldiers diligently worked to secure the operations tower as their ships pulled into the harbour's docks. Outside prisoners were being rounded up and put in makeshift cells, medical crews from both sides were treating injuries and moving bodies to morgues. Colonel Soga watched from the lower runway deck of the Ikari, Klaus walked up to him from the hanger bay at the end of the runway.

"Initial Casualty Reports are in sir." Klaus handed Soga the report pad.

Soga sighed as he accepted the pad "10 suits destroyed, 27 dead, 43 wounded, 6 critically." Soga dropped the pad carrying hand to his side and sighed. "Thank you".

"Colonel is there something wrong?" asked Klaus.

"It's nothing. Thank you for the report" Soga started to play with the pad. "I'll be in my office" Soga turned and left, "so much death, I wonder if it was worth it..." Soga walked back into the hanger bay as he sighed

Klaus turned back out to the damaged base. A smirk crept onto his face, a smirk that slowly became a sinister grin. "It was so, so worth it though, wouldn't you agree big brother." Klaus looked up.

"What was that?" Soga turned around and looked at Klaus.

"I just said that Cruz and Seifer should be almost completed retuning their units. If you'll excuse me Sir." Klaus saluted and moved to one of the access hatches on the side of the runway.

"Black, the Representative wants a live breifing at 0700 tomorrow. Be ready" Soga turned around and walked back down the hanger.

* * *

Hope this was all worth the wait? Another chapter is almost done.


	10. Phase 10: Apostle Strikes!

I know its been a long time since I last updated anything! But heress the next chapter anyway!~

* * *

**March 30th****  
Egypt  
****Suez Base, Personnel Division: Commodore Ridley Oventure's office.  
**

"Commodore," an Earth Alliance non-com walked into the office of Commodore Ridley Oventure.  
"What is it?" asked the Commodore as he looked up from his desk, a pair of semi-circular glasses slipping down his nose.  
"The 2 Test pilots are here" the NC replied with a salute.  
"Very good, send them in" he ordered. Two young men entered the office.  
"Ensign Alexis O Neil reporting."  
"Ensign Lars Carter reporting." the two boys were both very tall for their age, 20 or near abouts. Carlos had thick black hair, some were in dreadlocks, the rest either shaved short or braided. Lars had thick curly blonde hair that hugged his head.  
"At ease gentlemen." Oventure stood up, the Commodore was obviously way past the manditory retirement age of 60, bit the desperate times called for radical exceptions. "I take it you both read your assignment information packets?" Oventure walked around the side of his desk to the front so he could shake the fellow officer s hands, to him these were gentlemen and not soldiers.  
"sir" the young men nodded.  
"Carter, O Neil, when i say 'at ease' i mean at ease" Oventure returned to his seat. "please sit" the two officers sat in the pleather seats and waited for their orders.  
"As you're aware from you briefing packet, MIRANDA has developed two prototype Mobile Suits to bid for the Defence Contract. The Aesir and the Apostle. We're assigning the two of you as test pilots and dispatching you to the Dominion and the Pavel bases respectively" explained Oventure.  
"Sir" the two nodded again.

* * *

**April 1st****  
Russia  
20Km outside of Port Pavel  
**

Lars' snapped out of his dream like state as his Spengler class carrier was rocked by an ice cold wave. Lars s unit was en route from the compromised Miranda base, he would pick it up in Pavel in about 2 days. The Apostle type Dagger was the refit version of the Blu Duel and Duel dagger, the extra weapons systems were built into its frame instead of being mounted after the fact. The apostle was armed with the beam pistols from the Blu Duel, but these were now hip mounted, its wrists being equipped with 4 kunai lance darts, the duel dagger's shoulder cannon was now mounted more like Launcher strikes gatling. Lars breathed out as his ship slowly pulled into port.

The port floor was bustling, from the dry dock the Whales was birthed in. Lars could see a myriad of ships under construction; none of them were standard sea ships, but multi role vessels.  
"That s the new Tasman Class" smiled a tall blonde with ice cold blue eyes. The blonde was dressed in one of the thickest coats Lars had ever seen.  
"Tasman Class?" asked Lars.  
"An alternate Archangel class fit for mass production"  
"I see" replied Lars, wondering under his collected exterior who the hell this guy was.  
"Lt Commander Alexander Lasrudrace, assigned to the OLC Pompey." Alex extended his hand to Lars.  
"Lars Carter, recently assigned to the Pavel Defence Forces" Lars shook the young man's hand.  
"The Apostle pilot correct?" asked Alex with an icy assurance.  
"Yeah, the Apostle Type J. How'd ya know?" asked Lars, suddenly becoming aware of the cold wind when Alex adjusted his large jacket.  
"Your unit will be here soon, it was transferred to the Archangel. Now if you don t mind, I was sent to get you and bring you to the Command Centre" replied Alex as he pointed over at a tall building with a radar dome on top and a 360degree window.  
"Ah I see. Isn't that Yeoman work?" the two boys set off, Lars carrying his briefcase and duffle bag.  
"I'm on attachment to Commodore Scott."  
The base's speaker system suddenly blurted out an alert. "Attention all personnel this installation is now at Level 1 Battle Stations. Archangel inbound with hostile units trailing. Mobile Suit combat teams Alpha through Gamma report to hanger bays 4-7. Lt. Lasrudrace and Ensign Carter report to hanger 2." the two officers were caught by surprise.  
"Ensign, this way" Alex quickly darted off to his left, Lars followed him. As the two ran the speaker system continued to give updates saying the bases defences were being activated and for all personnel to report to stations.

* * *

"Damn it!" Seiei fired a series of shots with her Gamzatov cannons from her position on the Archangel's rear deck. Danel mounted a defence below the Archangel's bridge, La Flaga took the battle to the enemy whilst Li and Dante covered the Archangel from the catapults. The Archangel was under attack from an Orb carrier and 3 supporting Aegis Cruisers.  
"This close to Pavel..." Dante grinded his teeth while using his beam pistol to try and hit the agile Astray Kai units attacking from the front to no avail.  
"Captain, message from Pavel Control... Monitoring your situation and dispatching Jet Dagger teams. Package team on standby to pick up Package." read the communications officer.  
"Acknowledge them and tell them to approach via the main hanger doors." ordered Murrue as she was rocked around by a Kai unit s missile impact. "Mr. Chandra, have our Igellstellungs move to random targeting mode!"

"Sir, the Archangel will be within Pavel's Defensive Fire Zone in 17 minutes..." one of the Orb officers alerted his superior to the situation.  
"Hmm, Captain Black, you're up!" barked the Commanding officer.  
"Roger that. Cruz, Seifer. We're heading out" Klaus closed his visor and readied to launch.  
"Excellent" Seifer looked up and pressed two keys on the top of his cock pit.  
"About time!" Cruz smiled ear to ear, finally he could test his power against worthy metal.  
"Let s go!" Klaus ordered. Cruz's Scarlet Unit was the first to move to launch. As it locked into the catapult the Captain of the carrier opened a transmission to the pilots.  
"Listen here pilots, Pavel has launched Jet Daggers to intercept our forces. We have also picked up a series of messages relating to a team which is en route to receive a package from the Archangel... Your orders are to destroy that team and the package"  
"Understood" it was now Klaus' turn to sortie. Cerulean took off in its fighter mode, Viridian standing atop.

Sure enough the package team was well en route by the time Klaus' team launched. 3 squadrons of 5 Jet Dagger L units headed towards the Archangel, in the rear of the 3 squadrons were Alex's HiG Strike and Lars' Jet Grasper. Lars let out a large gulp as he detected the almost 40 suits waiting for them around the Archangel.  
"Keep clam Lars. If you get emotional you'll get distracted" Alex spoke out in calm voice.  
"Right" Lars nodded as his hands tightened on the controls. The Sky Grasper's HUD lit up as the 3 Orb units approached. "Alex, they're here!"  
"I know," Alex opened a squad wide intercom. "Blue Team, Yellow team you're with me. Red team stay back and guard that Grasper!" ordered Alex as he flew off.

Murrue saw the Orb units dash past the Archangel. "Damn they're after the package team! Seiei, Danel, intercept!" ordered Murrue.  
"Roger, Danel lets move!" the two Gundams jumped onto the water and skimmed towards the package team.  
"Can we provide them with some cover fire?" asked Dalida.  
"Impossible at this range with Wombats or Igellstellungs. CiC, aim Gottfrieds 5degrees off package team course and fire" ordered Murrue while the Archangel rocked as a Ballistic shell hit the rear deck. Another shell hit one of the main engines.  
"Captain at this rate they'll take out our engines before we reach the defence line!" yelled Nueman over the sound of exploding metal.  
"We need to make a direct hit." one of the CiC officers mumbles "if our engines go we won t be able to aim"  
"DAMNIT!" Murrue hit her chair's side arm rest. "We can't run away from it anymore. Once the Package team is aboard take us up Mr. Nueman, circle around port 150. CiC stand by on Gottfrieds and Valiants, prepare to target Aegis Class Cruiser 2." as Murrue finished Lars' grasper touched down in the hanger bay.

The Archangel began to turn as Lars disembarked from his Sky Grasper. The blonde couldn't help but almost fall over due to the sudden change in momentum.  
Murdock jogged over Lars. "Hey kid, you're unit is right over here" Murdock patted Lars on the back and walked him over to the Apostle's carry frame. "Is it operational?" asked Lars as he opened his visor to look at the machine.  
"The booster output in the legs will allow it to be used on water" explained Murdock as he waited for the small lift to descend on the side of Apostle's frame. "Good luck" he patted the boy on the shoulder. As Apostle moved to the Catapult, the Archangel finished its turning arc.  
"Are you sure?" asked the CIC officer soberly.  
"I am. Take aim and fire" Murrue swallowed the biggest lump in throat she'd ever had. The brown haired captain looked out the front of the Bridge window as the Gottfrieds locked onto their target. Twin particle beams fired out from the port Gottfried... And penetrated an Aegis class' hull, tearing a huge hole in its side. Water gushed into the hole as smoke began to rise up "They fired a direct hit..." Lars looked at his incoming combat data.  
"Murrue..." Mwu had a sad expression on his face as he disarmed an Astray that had attacked him.

Meanwhile on the Ikari the bridge crew were in a frenzy.  
"Kasuragi has been hit. Flooding in sections P5 P16-9 and P23."  
"The Ayanami and the Akagi are moving to assist."  
"Mobile Suit Teams are requesting orders sir" Soga quickly absorbed the information and took command one again. "Have the Inoue and the Kondo continue relief efforts on the Kasuragi. Bring the Suzuhara and the Ibuki in close to the Ikari, we'll deploy our antibeam depth charges in close quarters" ordered Soga as the Ikari rocked from a near miss from the Archangel's Gottfried.

Catapult locked into position Readying Catapult for launch Murdock ran through the sortie programs for Apostle, one by one the check boxes lit up. Marauder had returned in to be recharged, leaving the left catapult free to use. APU Online Final system check locked in. Apostle is ready for launch Murdock gave Lars the thumbs up and nodded.  
Roger that, Apostle Type J, Lars Carter heading out! Apostle screamed down the catapult at speeds that forced Lars back into his seat.  
"Are they backing off?" asked Murrue as Lars took off.  
"Negative... They are re-forming the battle line" Chandra responded.  
"Damn..." Murrue slammed her hand down on the side of her chair.  
Lars noticed the missile tubes opening on the Ikari... Instinctively Lars raised his units wrists up and fired one salvo of his micro lance darts, the small darts flew across the sky and penetrated the missile tubes causing an explosion on the deck of the Ikari that shook the ship violently. Apostle touched down on the ship s deck moments later.  
"What the hell was that!"Soga stumbled back into his command chair.  
"Antibeam launchers destroyed... Unknown enemy mobile suit is on the deck!" barked one of the officers.  
"Get Seifer up there now!" yelled Soga.

Lars marched about on the deck destroying the Anti Air turrets, none of the Orb ships risked firing on him for fear of hitting the Ikari. Lars was about to destroy another turret when Seifer's large bastard sword swung out of nowhere and forced Lars onto the defensive. The sword bounced off Lars' compact arm shield, Lars still tumbled back, almost losing his balance. The blond quickly stored his beam pistols and drew out his Beam Sabre. Seifer flew at Lars again, he slashed down. Lars had no choice but to evade, he counteracted with a volley of Vulcan fire from his head mounted turrets, the shells bounced off Seifer's phase shift armour.  
"Damn!" Lars checked his Lance Dart ammo, he had only 1 salvo left, that was for 4 darts. Lars looked up again and saw Seifer closing in with his sword up high. Lars quickly blocked the strike with his Beam Sabre, parrying it off into the deck.  
Seifer tried to swing his sword back around but realised his sword had melted the deck plating and become stuck. "What?" Seifer tried to pull his sword out and failed.  
"Hura!" Lars fired a spree of rail gun shells into Seifer, most bounced off his Phase Shift Armour but some hit unguarded joints and caused serious damage, Virdian's left arm and left eye were both damaged, as was the cooling vent on the right of its chest.  
"Not yet!" yelled Seifer in defiance. There was a large click and Seifer pulled the handle of his bastard sword out, it extended into a heavy Beam Sabre. "Ha!" Seifer lunged at Lars.  
Another sword blocked the strike meant for Lars.  
"En guarde!" Marauder jump kicked Viridian in the side of its head; the Green suit stumbled into the command tower.  
Soga and the other Bridge Crew were thrown to the floor. "This is ridiculous! Order a general retreat. Launch Fragmentation Shells to cover our forces!" barked Soga as he returned to his chair. Loud screeching noises could be heard as Seifer stood Viridian up; parts of the suit had dented the command tower's armour rather badly.  
Dante noticed the signal flare launchers fire up between himself and Seifer, a blinding light... Over his shoulder Lars fired his last salvo of darts from his right wrist. The two small projectiles were destroyed by Viridian's sabre, Dante took advantage of the confusion and lunged at Seifer, his Anti Ship Beam Sword readied. The two swords clashed sending sparks everywhere.  
"Hmm?" Klaus saw the signal flares in the distance and sighed. "A retreat?" Cerulean was attacked by Alex again. "Heh!" Cerulean transformed back into fighter mode and flew off.  
Not one to overstay his welcome, Dante moved off the deck, signalling for his comrade to follow. Lars quickly jumped overboard and skimmed towards the Archangel, while the ship covered his retreat. "All because of a chicken wuss commander." sighed Seifer as Viridian marched back to the service elevator. Soga ruffled his hat in frustration, how would he explain not just the failure to secure the Archangel, but the damage to the Ikari and Kasuragi to the representative.

* * *

Meanwhile the Archangel crew was celebrating their good luck. Seiei, Danel and Dante landed a few minutes after Li and Mwu had successfully returned.  
The two early pilots were waiting for the three; Li held her helmet in her arms, inside were 3 water bottles. The three Vindicators walked over to Li once they had disembarked.  
"You guys were great" she handed each pilot a drink and smiled.  
"Definitly one for the combat logs right Li?" asked Mwu jokingly as he patted Li and the small of her back, the Chinese girl squeaked in protest.  
"Who were those two other pilots?" asked Seiei as she poured some water into her hand and began rubbing her neck.  
"The one Dante saved was Lars Carter, the White Devil,... And the other was Alexander Lasrudrace, the Dragon of Glasgow." explained Li, almost in one breath.  
"Alex... Alex" Seiei pondered to herself, the name seemed familiar like she should know it...  
Li sighed and shook her head. "From the Glasgow escort fleet..." Seiei was Li's best friend but sometimes she felt like the red haired coordinator was far too dense to be a coordinator.  
Seiei was about to defend her ignorance when Murdock's voice sounded out through the hanger. "Hey! Everyone clear hanger floor, we got that kids Mobile Suit coming in."  
"Kira?" Mwu looked up towards a speaker.  
Li almost dropped her helmet in surprise "Ensign Yamato?"  
"No No the new Kid" Murdock barked again as the main hanger doors opened and the crane arms extended out. The four Vindicators ran to the edge of the main doors and watched in awe as the Apostle Dagger was lifted out of the water. Careful not to be crushed or doused by the Dagger the 5 pilots gave it a wide berth as it was moved inside the safety or the hanger bay. The hanger doors shut with a loud Clunk behind it. Apostle was quickly placed in a cattie frame.  
A pilot emerged from the cockpit in an extended style flight suit, custom coloured all white with blue red and yellow stripes on its forearms. The pilot removed his helmet as he walked along the walkway towards the assembled pilots. He wasted no time introducing himself to Mwu, the commanding officer on the deck. "Ensign Lars Carter reporting aboard. Thank you for the assistance." the boy saluted firmly.  
"No problem kid, in fact we should be saying the same to you," Mwu extended his hand rather than saluting. The two shook hands. "These are the resident pilots of the Archangel, Ensigns; Scout Pilot Danel Winder, Marauder Pilot Dante Gaius and Titan Pilot Li Quan" the three pilots saluted. "And Lieutenant Seiei Kofun, squadron commander and Defender Pilot." Seiei saluted.  
"It s an honour to meet the Dragon of Glasgow" Seiei smiled and saluted. The other pilots of the Archangel sighed and either shook their heads or face palmed.

* * *

The Archangel was able dock at Pavel with no further complications. The command crew was invited to see the Commodore in his office. Mwu stayed behind to oversee the Archangels shore leave roster.  
The metal doors opened into a large wooden office that Seiei thought looked more like a ski lodge than a Military Office. Scott was sitting behind his desk with Alex to his right and Lars to his left.  
"Welcome," Scott stood up and beckoned Seiei and Murrue into the office. "Where is Commander La Flaga?" asked Scott. Seiei could hear Murrue swallow before she answered "He remained on the Archangel to over sea the shore leave and supply offload." explained Murrue.  
"What a shame, I always wanted to meet the Hawke of Endymion" Scott sighed. "Extend tonight s formal dinner invitation to him on my behalf" requested Scott with a smile.  
"Sir." Murrue nodded with a small bow.  
"Now I have a few matters to discuss with you." Seiei nodded, but noticed Murrue getting awkward.  
"Sir..." Murrue replied compliantly.  
"Don't worry Murrue-San," smiled Scott "I read all about the JOSH-A travesty trial, this isn't a formal inquiry. I just want to bring you up to speed on the war and get to know you after all you're legends." Scott reassured her.  
"Sir" Murrue nodded.  
"Crewman Kofun, you're the leader for one of the Archangel's Mobile Suit squadrons yes?"  
"Yes Sir," nodded Seiei. "And I think there s been a mistake... I'm a lieutenant." Seiei interjected. There was a tense moment in the room "...Sir" she added.  
"She was promoted for exceptional service during the botched trial for the new 3G units." Murrue explained the full situation to Commodore Scott, during primary trials for GAT X11 Eradicate, a squadron of raiders ambushed the trial party and Seiei was forced to fight them off alone with half of Defender's systems offline, rechristening the X111, Defender.  
"Ah I see, with Orb's assaults, the communication network hasn t been working the best" explained Scott. The Commodore flipped some other pages and skimmed down the last. Hmm either way, Lt. Kofun you may return to the Archangel Seiei stood up, saluted and turned for the door, Oh, before you go, I expect your squad mates to be at the Reception tonight as well smiled Scott. Seiei turned to Murrue with a sad look that read please, please, please get me out of that. However Murrue just sat still, looking at Commodore Scott. Seiei sighed and left the room. She walked out of the command centre into the cold snow of Pavel, wrapping a scarf around her neck she set out for the base s hotel where she and her squadron had been given quarters while the Archangel was refitted. How was she going to break the news to her squad? A formal reception ugh. Seiei kicked a lump of snow and kept walking.

* * *

I hope that was well worth the wait everyone.  
PROMISE to update more often.  
Thanks.


End file.
